blocking travel from a given country, just give us time to assess it better, that s the reason for doing that, not any reason for panic, but we want time to fill in the blanks of what we don t know right now. reporter: while the omicron variant is officially detected in the us researchers believe the ability to enter human cells means the variant is likely already here. i would not be surprised if it is. we have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is issuing this degree of transmissibility and you already have travel related cases that they have noted in israel and belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it s almost invariably is going to go essentially all over. reporter: israel has taken additional step of setting down the borders to outsiders completely taking place for two weeks and they also resumed the cell phone monitoring plan they
like the u.s. move to restrict travel from some countries in africa starting monday is a way to buy critical time. the issue of blocking travel from a given countries is to just give us time to assess it better. that s the reason for doing that. we want to give us time to really fill in the blanks from what we don t know right now. reporter: some experts say it s not surprising that the omnicron variant first occurred in africa, with only 7.4% of the country s population fully vaccinated. this time last year, we were all sitting here hoping for a vaccine and science did what it does. it comes up with solutions that are available. and now the world has billions of vaccines this short time later. the problem that we haven t solved is to equally distribute them. we ve still got most people in africa have never been offered their first shot yet. they re dangerously unprotected. a problem that is increasingly becoming a global one, as more countries confirm
live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world. i m kim brunhuber. this is cnn newsroom. more countries have detected cases of the covid omnicron variant and more are banning travel from the african countries where the variant was first discovered. we have live coverage from europe and asia. plus, a look at what could be the reason for the surge in smash-and-grab robberies in the united states. announcer: live from cnn center in atlanta, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. countries around the world are scrambling to get a handle on the new covid variant called omnicron. in recent days, it s already spread from southern africa and has been discovered in italy, germany, the uk, and the czech republic. australia has already reported two cases within the last few hours, and dutch authorities are now saying that omnicron was
that is warning the world and sharing that knowledge openly, and yet you see all of those travel bans. south africa points out that nobody who is infected is allowed to leave the country. you need a test for covid just to be able to fly out of the country. it s not possible that anybody who is infected could leave the country. you ve had, for instance, the speaker of the national assembly in south africa say that these travel bans are irritating and annoying and it will be devastating for the economy, for more than a year and a half because of the pandemic. this is the last thing that they need. for me personally, i flew from kenya and east africa. arriving here in france, kim, i have been required now to isolate and get a pcr test and only if it comes out negative can i be out in the community again. and you see why the africans feel that these are specifically targeted at africans and not say germany or the uk or belgium, where you don t see a red list or travel restrictions for trav
describing this move as out of an abundance of caution, even as they re still learning more about the new variant of the coronavirus. but we also heard this morning from dr. fauci on early today saying that while the cdc has not yet detected the new variant in the united states, it s only a matter of time. take a look. we have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you re already having travel-related cases that they ve noted in israel and belgium and in other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go, essentially, all over. the issue of blocking travel from a given country is to just give us time to assess it better. that s the reason for doing that. reporter: scientists here in the u.s. will be using that extra time to do a number of things, alex. they ll be looking closely to