were necessary but acknowledged there is much to be learned about the variant. take a listen. i ve decided that we re going to be cautious. we don t know a lot about the variant except that it is of great concern. seems to spread rapidly. and i spent about a half hour this morning with my covid team led by dr. fauci, so that was the decision we made. the new travel restrictions will not impact american citizens and legal permanent residents. and the ban is set to go into effect on monday. officials say they need that time in order to put all of the proper protocols in place to implement this, working directly with the tsa and airlines that will be impacted. ultimately officials believe they are working as quickly as possible. they are hoping that these new restrictions will give the administration more time to learn more about the variants. the president also stressed that now is the time for the unvaccinated to go out and get their vaccine shots, and for those who have already bee
support that they re going to offer to african countries to help us control the pandemic. reporter: countries in africa, now israel, hong kong, and belgium have so far confirmed cases of the variant. david mckenzie, cnn, johannesburg. a closer look at the new travel restrictions being implemented by the u.s. on those southern african nations. more now from nantucket, massachusetts, where president biden is spending his thanksgiving holiday weekend. reporter: president biden described his decision to enact new travel restrictions on south africa and seven other african countries as a cautious one as concerns are growing about the new coronavirus variant known as omnicron. the president spoke to reporters on his vacation saying he had a 30-minute conversation with his top medical advisers including dr. fauci thundanthony fauci, a arrived that the restrictions