'Unlike Trump, I don't shock allies': Biden on US travel ban decision amid Omicron scare

While US President Joe Biden in his Monday briefing stated that the Omicron is “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic”, he told the US reporters on Tuesday that he will unveil a plan on Thursday to tackle the virus “not with shutdowns and lockdowns”. Speaking to the press reporters in the US state of Minnesota, Biden said that he would reevaluate travel restrictions on southern African countries “week to week” and said that it depends on how long those bans last.

"We'll learn a lot more in the next couple of weeks about the variant," The Hill quoted Biden as saying. Furthermore, the US President compared his administration’s response to the COVID-19 with the former Trump administration, as he said that he will inform allies and partners if further travel restrictions would be needed.

"Unlike Trump, I don’t shock our allies," Biden said, when asked if forthcoming bans will catch the allies off-guard, as was the case during the ex-President Donald Trump’s administration.

Biden made remarks in Minnesota, where he arrived for a presser on promoting his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill recently passed by his administration. Furthermore, speaking about the threat from the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, Biden told US reporters "The degree of the spread impacts on whether or not there is a need for any travel restrictions, but  I don’t anticipate that at this point."

'Definitive Info' on new COVID strain may take up to 2 weeks

United States' top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has told US President Joe Biden that it may about two weeks to have definitive information on the 'Omicron' variant as the financial market riles up, global air travel grounds and countries scramble to impose a set of bans.

As the US President returned from Washington after his Thanksgiving holiday weekend, he was briefed by the White House's COVID Response Team Sunday afternoon about the new Omicron variant that they expect will soon reach the United States. 

As he delivered his first update to the public on the new variant, outlining what he learned at the meeting with his Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden said according to a White House Press transcript, "Approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity, and other characteristics of the variant [Omicron]."