Thailand Bans Entry From Eight African Countries From December

(Bloomberg) -- Thailand will ban arrivals from eight southern African nations from Dec. 1 after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha ordered agencies to step up vigilance against the new omicron variant.

Arrivals from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are forbidden from next month, Opas Karnkawinpong, director general of the Disease Control Department, said during a webcast briefing Saturday afternoon. Any travelers from those countries who had already received approval will be subject to 14 days of quarantine.

Thailand has yet to detect any infection among arrivals from South Africa, Opas said.

“If there’s any urgent need for the government to adjust control measures against this new variant, I will order agencies to act immediately,” Prayuth said in a Facebook post Saturday morning. “We will closely monitor how this new strain will impact Thailand.”

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