South Africa's Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the move to place travel restrictions on the country amid fears over the new COVID-19 variant is "unjustified" at a media briefing on Friday, CNBC reported.
Previous tweets from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are igniting accusations of hypocrisy after the administration announced a travel ban in response to a new COVID-19 variant.
The U.S. will restrict travel for non-U.S. citizens from South Africa and seven other countries on Monday after the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) labeled a new coronavirus strain a “variant of concern.”
In reaction to a Friday announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO) that there is a new coronavirus "variant of concern," known as "omicron," the Biden administration has made an announcement of its own. As Peter Aitken reported for Fox News, the U.S. will restrict travel from eight African countries starting on Monday.
The Dow Jones fell over 900 points just after opening bell on Nov. 26, with other major Wall Street stock indexes—and risk assets more generally—also seeing sell-offs as news of a new COVID-19 variant spreading in South Africa seems to have sparked a broader risk-off sentiment among investors.
Africa's less than 6% vaccination rate and lack of mask-wearing makes it "one of the least [Covid-19] affected regions in the world," according to the World Health Organization.
