US President Joe Biden announced Thursday a winter campaign against Covid-19, with new testing requirements for travelers and a surge in vaccination efforts as the new Omicron variant threatens to revive the pandemic.
The variant was first detected in South Africa last week, and has since spread to dozens of countries worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the new strain poses a “very high” global risk, and has urged governments to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups.
Read FRANCE 24’s live coverage:
04:40 Paris time: How one French lab is identifying cases of the new variant
On Thursday, France confirmed the first two cases of the variant on its mainland, adding to a previous case identified on the overseas territory of Réunion. With our colleagues at France 2, Jean-Emile Jammine looks at how one French lab is sequencing Covid-19 samples to identify cases of the new variant.
04:15 Paris time: Nepal to ban travellers from eight African countries, Hong Kong
Nepal will ban the entry of travellers who have been in eight African countries or Hong Kong, to curb the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, a government spokesman said on Friday.
The ban, which goes into effect at midnight on Friday, covers people who have been in or transiting through South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and Hong Kong.
Travellers who have been to these countries in the past three weeks will also not be allowed to enter Nepal, and all other international visitors already in transit must spend seven days at their own cost in hotel quarantine, the government…
Source : france24
