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Israel will host the Miss Universe beauty pageant in the Red Sea resort of Eilat on Dec 12 despite imposing travel restrictions to try to stave off the Omicron coronavirus variant, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said on Sunday. On Saturday Israel announced it would ban foreigners from entering the country, lengthen quarantines for citizens and residents returning from abroad and reinstate controversial cellphone surveillance designed to track infections. However, Razvozov on Sunday said that Miss Universe participants would be granted waivers while possibly undergoing PCR testing every 48 hour… Continue reading “Israel to host Miss Universe pageant despite Omicron variant”

Israel has issued a 14-day ban on foreigners entering the country to limit the spread of the newly detected Omicron COVID-19 strain. The ban will go into effect on Sunday at midnight pending full cabinet approval, local media reported. “The entry of foreign nationals into Israel is banned except for cases approved by a special committee,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Several countries have banned travelers from southern African countries since the Omicron variant, a new strain of COVID-19, was first detected there on Thursday. Israel has so far confirmed one case of the Omi… Continue reading “Israel closes borders again due to new Covid variant”

Britain on Saturday confirmed its first two cases of the new Omicron strain of Covid-19, both linked to travel from southern Africa, and expanded travel restrictions on the region. “After overnight genome sequencing, the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed that two cases of Covid-19 with mutations consistent with B.1.1.529 (Omicron) have been identified in the UK,” a government statement said. “The two cases are linked and there is a link to travel to southern Africa,” it said. One case was detected in the central English city of Nottingham, and the other in Chelmsford east of London, offi… Continue reading “UK confirms first two cases of Omicron Covid strain”

President Joe Biden barred flights from South Africa and seven other African countries starting Monday in a bid to prevent the spread of the virulent new COVID variant dubbed omicron by the World Health Organization. The other nations include Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The White House guidance did not give details except to say the restrictions will not apply to returning U.S. citizens or permanent residents, who will continue to be required to test negative before their travel. “The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this … Continue reading “US to restrict travel from 8 African countries over virulent omicron variant of COVID-19”

By Alexander Winning and Alistair Smout JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) – Authorities around the world have reacted with alarm to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa. Britain, the European Union and India are among those announcing stricter border controls as scientists carry out tests to determine if the mutation is more transmissible or infectious than other variants, or is resistent to vaccines. WHERE AND WHEN WAS NEW VARIANT FOUND? South African scientists detected a small number of the variant known as B.1.1.529 on Tuesday in samples taken from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16. On Wednesda… Continue reading “Explainer-What we know about the new COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa”