The United States has decided to lift travel restrictions on African countries following the siege of the Omigron variant The world

As Restrictions will be lifted on December 31st., 12:01 p.m. Eastern time To us, According to CNN.

President Joe Biden ordered the restrictions in late November, Follow the advice of your public health officials. At that time, most trips from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Swatini, Mozambique and Malawi were blocked.

A senior U.S. government official said: US Centers for Disease Control To us CNN suggests that restrictions should be lifted for two main reasons: progress in understanding Omigran and that this variation already exists across the country and around the world.

These measures barred almost all foreigners who were “physically” in African countries from entering the United States “14 days prior to their entry or attempted entry”. To us“Exemptions are available to U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and non-citizens who are citizens or spouses of permanent residents.

Biden and his team insisted at the time that the move was a temporary attempt to slow the spread of Omigron and give US authorities time to assess the corona virus variant.

The move met with further criticism even after it became clear that Omigran was spreading to many non-African countries before it was even identified in South Africa, which has a strong public health monitoring system.