Blocking Travel News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> 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 belgiu...

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. ...

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 ...

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 nee...

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 ultimat...