how severe is this? we don t know the answer to that. concern and condemnation as more countries ban travel from south africa and more nations. we are in a race against time. these are unjustified. we didn t need to close travel and we re punishing south africa for doing the right thing. the u.s. set to enforce its own travel restrictions. we re going to be cautious to make sure there is no travel from south africa and other countries. but with lessons learned from past variants, immediate measures are being taken as scientists rush to evaluate the threat. take a covid test on site and they give you this little at-home test kit. that definitely feels different when you come home and see all of that going on. good evening. i m kaitlyn collins in washington in for pamela brown. countries are scrambling to deal with a new variant omicron. at least a dozen countries have detected cases of the variant including those in red. number of countries including the uni
restrictions tomorrow. we ll make sure there is no travel from south africa and six other countries. we were concerned if we could come back home. with lessons learned, scientists are rushing it evaluate the threat. you can take a covid test on site and they give you this little at-home test kit. that definitely feels different, when you come home and see all of that going on. i m kaitlyn collins in washington. you re live at the cnn newsroom. tonight countries around the world are scrambling to respond to a concerning new variant known as omicron. could it cause more severe disease or at least a dozen countries are detecting cases of omicron including those showing red on this map. canada just now confirming its first two cases. multiple countries including the united states are shutting their doors to south africa and the neighbors in an attempt to contain the variant but preventing it from spreading entirely will likely be impossible. those suspicions have spar
of the eight countries targeted by u.s. travel restrictions which go into effect in just six hours. as this variant inches closer to the u.s., president biden has just wrapped up a meeting with his covid-19 response team. joe, we now have a readout and a photo. yeah, this is the status report. it doesn t move the ball a lot, but it gives us some information. much of what we heard from the experts on cnn talking about the variant. here is a graphic from that. dr. fauci informed the president that while it will take two weeks on the severity, trans m tranc trans mmissibility of the varia, dr. fauci said boosters of the covid-19 vaccine provides the biggest protection against covid. now, one of the big questions, of course, is the extent to which authorities actually know where the science is headed. so if that s a question, the answer would be maybe. dr. francis collins, director of the national institutes of health, talked about that on state of the union earlier today.
veer the disease it might cause and also on its impact on vaccine efficacy, but as we ve seen in the last few days these cases are on the rise. we ve just seen in the last few hours the uk and germany both confirming their third cases of the omicron variant alongside a number of other nations, and this is expected to rise. perhaps most troubling we ve seen in the netherlands they had identified 61 confirmed cases of coronavirus on friday from a passengers on a flight from south africa. they have now confirmed that at least 13 of those who tested positive have tested positive for the omicron variant, so there s a real sense of concern and urgency here, but the questions remain, and it will take time to find out more about this variant. we ve heard from the european commission president that we re now in a race against time. take a listen. we re now in a race against time. because we know not a lot about this variant, but it is a variant of concern, and the scientists and man
i m ayman mohyeldin. let s get started. so there s no doubt about it. thanksgiving a is a great time to look back and take stock of where we are and where we have been. as the new york times s michelle goldberg discussed with us, it s tempting to give into a feeling of despair about the headlines surrounding covid, the economy, even the future of our democracy. but if you stop and remember what things were like this time last year, you gain a different perspective of where we are today. president biden spoke about this recently. watch. this thanksgiving we re all in a very different circumstance. things are a hell of a lot better. as bad as things are in terms of prices hurting families now, trade this thanksgiving for last thanksgiving. so it is a good question, stop and think about it for a moment. would you trade this thanksgiving for last thanksgiving? ahead of thanksgiving last year, the average number of new covid cases was more than double this year s number, a