The United States plans to allow trips from South Africa – El Financiero

WASHINGTON, DC- Top White House epidemiologist Anthony Fauci said he expects the United States to review its travel restrictions from South Africa and other African countries within “a reasonable period.”

The ban imposed by Washington a week ago has been criticized by the World Health Organization (WHO), by “penalizing” those countries after detecting the new variant of COVID-19, omicron.

Fauci acknowledged that this measure was taken to “buy time” at a time when little details of the variant were known.

“Hopefully we will be able to lift this travel ban in a reasonable period of time,” he added.

Washington’s ban affects travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

In addition, since these restrictions came into force, infections of the omicron variant have been reported in the United States, in at least five states of the country.

Meanwhile, Fauci criticized the “ridiculous statements” of Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who assured that the AIDS epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic have been “overrated.”

The epidemiologist said he did not know how to respond given the death toll from both diseases. “I have no idea what you mean,” he said.

How do you respond to something so ridiculous? Overvaluing AIDS, which has killed more than 750,000 Americans and 36 million people worldwide. How do you overvalue something like that? Overvaluing COVID-19, which has already killed 780,000 Americans and more than 5 million people worldwide, “he said.

Meanwhile, the state of New York announced three more cases of the omicron variant, bringing to eight the number of state cases linked to the new mutation.

“Ómicron is here and, as anticipated, we are seeing the beginning of community outreach,” said state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett.

The number of states finding the variant is also growing. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington announced their first cases on Saturday, a day after New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported their first confirmed cases. Missouri reported its first case since Friday.

BOLSONARO CASE

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, will be investigated by the Supreme Court for linking the vaccine against COVID-19 with AIDS, another example of his denial in the face of the pandemic, which is already beginning to take its toll on the justice system and for which his new political party has distanced itself.

The magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, one of the 11 judges of the Supreme Court, ordered the opening of an investigation against the president, which will begin in the next few days.

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