The US announced travel advisories on African countries and the UAE on Monday. US State Department announced that it now considers UAE, Liberia, Uganda, Mozambique, and Zambia in the Level 4 “Do not Travel” list considering the increasing number of COVID19 infections.
Portugal, Spain, and Hong Kong, on the other hand, announced restrictions on Britain. This was a reaction to the growing number of Delta variant cases, a deadlier COVID variant that was first detected in India.
Hong Kong announced that it is going to ban all flights from Britain starting Monday. Britain reported that 95% of its COVID19 cases are of the delta variant. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center mentioned that Britain has over 14,000 new cases of COVID in just the past day. It could be the effect of the UK’s somewhat relaxed restrictions since around 48% of its entire population is now fully vaccinated.
The Surge of Delta Variant
In an interview on PBS, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, Anthony Fauci, said that “In certain countries, the Delta variant has become really quite dominant. It has pushed aside the other variants that are there. This will happen in our country, the United States, in those areas of unvaccinated people”.
With the delta variant becoming more common, Fauci was asked if there is a need for a booster shot. According to Fauci, there are studies that are “trying to determine what the feasibility and the necessity of a booster is”.
The US Missing the 70% Target
A few months ago, many were looking forward to seeing the US reopen by the 4th of July. The US initially planned to give at least one dose of the vaccine to 70% of US adults by Independence Day. Unfortunately, it seems that it is not the case anymore. A few days away from the 4th of July, the US will miss its target and will also have to reconsider reopening considering the threat of the delta variant.
Fauci believes that some parts of the US are more vulnerable to new variants. He said that “among certain Southern states, where the level of vaccination is really dangerously low, around 35 percent or so”
