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Trevor Noah Blasts the Biden Administration’s African Travel Ban Over Omicron

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  December 01, 2021 11:00 AM

This week, “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah blasted the Biden administration’s travel ban to South Africa and several other African countries, calling it “total bulls***” and saying that the variant is “everywhere.”

Noah, who is from South Africa, made his remarks on the show on Monday.

“As a South African who does not have the variant, I think this travel ban is total bulls***, I really do,” he said on the show.

“Omicron has already been found in over a dozen countries, a dozen countries around the world. We don’t know where it started, we don’t know how long it’s been around, it’s everywhere,” Noah continued. “From Hong Kong, to Israel, to Spain, so why aren’t you banning travel from all of those countries too?”

The travel restrictions, announced by the White House on Friday, restricts travel to South Africa, where the variant reportedly emerged, as well as Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

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“As a precautionary measure until we have more information, I am ordering additional air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries. These new restrictions will take effect on November 29,” Biden’s statement reads.

“Finally, for the world community: the news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations,” he continued. “The United States has already donated more vaccines to other countries than every other country combined. It is time for other countries to match America’s speed and generosity.”

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened to discuss the Omicron variant, which is labeled as a “variant of concern” on the organization’s website.

“Look, maybe America is buying itself a couple of weeks before it gets overrun with omicron,” Noah stated.

“But, don’t forget about the cost of this action too,” he concluded. “Other countries are paying attention. And they realize that, if they’re going to get punished for telling the world about new variants, they’re going to stop telling the world whenever their scientists discover new variants.”