global risk is, quote, very high. today marks the start of a new travel restrictions to the u.s. from south african countries in the region where omicron was first detected. although it s been confirmed in a number of places from hong kong to ontario, israel and japan have responded by closing their borders completely to foreign travelers. and new york declared a state of emergency before a single case of omicron was confirmed in the state. the governor says it s coming. meanwhile the message from administration officials is one of caution. and that the best defense against this or any other covid variant remains to get vaccinated. just a short time ago president biden gave an update on the omicron variant saying it was a cause for concern but not panic. he said new lockdowns were off the table. and he also spoke about the new travel restrictions from countries in southern africa. take a listen. while we had that travel restrictions can slow the speed of omicron, it canno
Capitol hill as congress tries to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. and a default on u.s. debt next month. and later, the latest from a manhattan federal courthouse as opening statements begin today in the sex trafficking trial of jeffrey epstein con if i confidant, ghislaine maxwell. welcome to meet the press daily . i m garrett haake. president biden has once again been forced to turn his attention back to the pandemic. as u.s. health officials brace for the arrival of this new and little studied omicron variant. it s going to be days, perhaps more likely weeks before experts can confidently say whether or not this new variant is significantly more dangerous than the delta strain which is dominant now. but that hasn t stopped governments and health authorities from taking action. as the world health organization is now warning that the overall