president is very much focused on the omicron variant to the extent that the administration put out a statement even before he left nantucket on his thanksgiving weekend saying he was going to have this meeting, and now it has occurred. also i think important to say, jim, that we are now in the countdown period before those travel restrictions on several southern african countries, including south africa, as well as botswana. we are in that countdown period before we actually see those travel restrictions go into effect. the question, of course, for the president, which he did not answer today, is whether he s going to expand any of those restrictions in light of what the scientists have learned over the last weekend. jim, back to you. and of course we know there are cases popping up all over the globe, not just in that part of africa. joe johns, thank you very much. the world is racing to contain this new variant with multiple countries blocking and
control of congress. but if president biden doesn t run for reelection, that can throw things off that normal kind of pattern. nbc s mark murray, we ll let you attend to that beeping sound, i m not sure if that s coming from your end or not. i think it s the oven, ayman. dinner is ready, go enjoy, my friend. nbc s mark murray. coming up, travel restrictions go into effect on monday due to the new omicron variant. how concerned should you be and what do we know about it thus far? plus in tonight s edition of that s what they said, fox news is back at it again, believe it or not, with a new conspiracy theory about the coronavirus. i will see your tin foil hats and raise you some science, guys. stick around. this. is the planning effect. this is how it feels to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture.
confirm there are cases here in the u.s. but today, airline passengers around the world are rushing to make their flights before those travel restrictions go into effect. starting tomorrow, president biden has restricted travelers from south africa as well as seven other african countries surrounding it from entering the united states. with covid cases already surging across the country, vice president kamala harris says the administration is doing what s necessary to protect americans. i have been briefed and as the president has said, we re going to take every precaution and so that s why we ve taken the measures we have. do you think there will be any additional travel restrictions. we ll take it one step at a time, but as of now, we ve done what we believe is necessary. the u.s. health experts are still stressing that covid vaccinations are the best protection we have, even as this new variant emerges. we are covering every angle of this global story with our reporter