The ban is expected to come into effect at midnight on Sunday, following full cabinet approval.

Israel has so far confirmed one case of the potentially more infectious Omicron strain first detected in South Africa.

Many countries have since banned travel to South Africa and its neighbours.

South Africa has complained that it is being punished – instead of applauded – for discovering Omicron earlier this month.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has warned the new variant is “of concern”, with early evidence suggesting a higher re-infection risk.

However, the WHO has warned against countries hastily imposing travel restrictions, saying they should look to a “risk-based and scientific approach”.

The Israeli coronavirus cabinet agreed a series of new restrictions at a crisis meeting late on Saturday and are subject to final approval by the larger cabinet.

In addition to the entry ban for non-Israelis, a three-day mandatory quarantine would be required for all vaccinated Israeli nationals, and a seven-day quarantine for those who have not been vaccinated.

The cabinet also authorised surveillance of confirmed coronavirus patients by the Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.

In a statement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said phone-tracking technology would be used.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli authorities had put 50 African nations on the so-called “red” list.

All Israeli nationals returning from those countries must quarantine in the government-approved hotels and undergo Covid tests.

A ban on foreigners entering Israel from most African countries was imposed on Friday.

Israel has confirmed more than 1.3 million Covid infections since the start of the pandemic, with over 8,100 deaths, according to America’s Johns Hopkins university.

In other developments on Saturday:

*The UK announced PCR tests would be mandatory for everyone entering the country, and all contacts of new variant cases would have to self-isolate.

*Austria saw thousands of people protesting against government plans to make vaccinations mandatory.

*Switzerland toughened its quarantine requirements for travellers from several European and African countries. A referendum is taking place on Sunday on whether to keep the covid passport certificate that’s required to get into most public spaces.

*US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised South Africa for promptly sharing information with the world. He said its transparency should serve as a model for the world, and he’d spoken to his South African counterpart about co-operation on vaccinating people in Africa

*Australia said flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi, and Mozambique would be suspended for 14 days. Non-Australians who have been in those countries in the past two weeks are now banned from entering Australia.

After an emergency meeting on Friday, the WHO said the first known confirmed infection from this variant had been collected on 9 November, it had “a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning”.

The WHO said it would take a few weeks to understand the impact of the new variant, as scientists worked to determine how transmissible it was.

The head of the South African Medical Association told the BBC that the cases found so far in South Africa – where only about 24% of the population is fully vaccinated – were not severe, but said investigations into the variant were still at a very early stage.

Source: BBC

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The government said it would require the concurrence of neighbouring countries for the ban to be effective.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this when he featured on a Radio Nigeria programme, “Politics Nationwide’’ on Tuesday in Abuja.

During the programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Mohammed said, “although the government is concerned over importation of the COVID-19 new strain, it did not want to take a hasty decision.”

He said the Presidential Committee on COVID-19 deliberated on the issue at its meeting on Monday and decided to watch the development for the time being.

He said they were working with West African Health Organisations and other neighbouring countries, particularly, Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.

“We did not want to take a hasty decision to ban flight from the UK into Nigeria only to find out our people are going through Cotonou, Lome or Accra to come into the country.

“What the Airlines will do is to transfer Nigerian passengers to these routes and they will enter the country through the land borders.

“This will lead into hardship to Nigerians because if you transfer your economy to other countries you lose a lot of money.

“However, if we get the concurrence of these other countries, we will not hesitate to do the needful.

“We are consulting and being very careful in order to take a proper decision,’’ he said.

It would be recalled that the minister gave the hint on Monday that the Federal Government might impose travel ban to and from certain parts of the world into the country.

Mohammed, a member of PTF, had said at a Special NAN Forum that the government was concerned about the new strain of COVID-19, manifesting itself in the UK that is the mutated strain.

“It is difficult to detect, it spreads faster and people have been known to die of it within a very short period of its detection.

“This is a major concern to us as a country.

“Why I did not want to pre-empt the PTF because we are meeting this afternoon, it is going to be top on the agenda of our discussions.

“I will not be surprised if that will be the recommendation of the committee which is meeting later today,’’ he said.

The minister noted that many European countries had banned flights into the UK and many imposed restrictions into that country.

Source: NAN

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The action is to prevent the spread of the disease in the country.

The new countries on the list are Sweden and Austria.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made this known while addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday.

It would be recalled that the federal government had declared that the countries affected by the ban were those with over 1,000 cases domestically.

13 countries earlier affected are China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.

The travel ban will commence on Saturday.

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The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunimbe Mamora, made this known on Monday in Abuja while giving an update on the situation of coronavirus in the country.

“We are monitoring the situation and we have received an action guideline from the World Health Organisation. We’ll do it if it becomes necessary even before the end of today,” he said.

The minister , apart from giving indication that a travel ban could be introduced if necessary, warned against complacency.

He gave the warning against the backdrop of the information making the rounds that the gene of the black man could resist coronavirus.

He said the price for the consequence of such belief could be grave.

His words:  “We must be conscious of not being complacent, the price to pay for complacency is huge. I have heard people say that the black man’s gene is resistant and so COVID-19 is not for us.

“Don’t forget, some black men even from Africa, even from Nigeria have died, unfortunately. We heard the story of one doctor who lived in Italy, a Nigerian, a black man.

“So we should not get carried away. There are a lot of things known about COVID-19 and there are still things unknown. We have to be very careful about believing claims that are yet to be fully validated.”

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