Several U.S. agencies issued a “do not travel” advisory to eight southern African nationals due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant that was named last week, while on Monday morning, a previously announced federal travel ban on those countries went into effect. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently raised its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, and Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. The Department of State also issued “Do Not Travel” advisories for the same countries. Before alarm was raised over the Omicron variant set in last week, the CDC and State Department only listed Botswana as a “Level Four” country last week. Before the latest designation, the CDC recently lowered South Africa from “Level 3: High” to “Level 1: Low.” Last week, the White House announced it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who had been in the eight …https://www.theepochtimes.com/c-us-politics