The rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant has broken pandemic records and shuttered borders in several parts of the world, as governments and scientists scramble to understand the implications of the strain before it supersedes Delta and becomes dominant worldwide.
The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the United States was ‘looking over (its) shoulder’ at the encroaching variant while battling an ongoing Delta outbreak on Wednesday, as he urged people to get vaccinated and receive booster shots to shore up the American population’s protection.
“We are already in a Delta surge. I mean, the cases are going up,” Fauci told CNN, adding: “And then you have, looking over your shoulder, the Omicron variant, which we know from what’s going on in South Africa and in the UK, is a highly transmissible virus”.
Much of the world’s attention is on those two countries, which have been battered by Omicron waves earlier than most of the world.
France toughened restrictions on travelers coming from Britain on Thursday in response to the Omicron threat. Those arriving from the UK will need a “compelling reason” for entry into France and will also be required to present proof of a negative test taken no more than 24 hours before departure, government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Prime Minister, Jean Castex, also urged French people planning to visit the UK to postpone their trips, days before Christmas. He quoted the UK government’s own admission that it faces a “tidal wave” of cases of Omicron variant.
France was itself added to Israel’s red list of high-risk countries on Wednesday, along with Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.
