Additionally, the U.S. is enacting travel bans, as an effort to limit the spread of the new Omicron variant of the virus, which the World Health Organization warned presents a “very high” global risk.

Starting this month, President Biden imposed a couple of travel restrictions for non-U.S. citizens, from these eight countries:

• Botswana
• Eswatini
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Zimbabwe

Several other countries have implemented the same travel restrictions, such as countries from The European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Israel. Some health officials and public health experts warn that these travel restrictions alone won’t be enough to control the spread of this infectious disease. Even more, it could have some harmful effects, like exacerbating xenophobia and deterring countries from being transparent about the situation in their countries.

The variant was first reported at the end of November in South Africa, where the vaccination rate is about 24%. Ever since then, other cases of the omicron variant have been confirmed in Botswana, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Israel, The Netherlands, Australia, and Hong Kong.