Biden reinstating COVID-19 restrictions for overseas travelers - CBS News

Washington — President Joe Biden will sign executive action reinstating COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-U.S.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also confirmed that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.

"This isn't the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," Psaki said at a press briefing.

"We have concern about the mutation that's in South Africa," Fauci told "CBS This Morning." "We're looking at it very actively.

Biden's team had announced that he would reimpose the travel restrictions, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administration's concern about mutations in the virus.

The South Africa variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant — originating in the United Kingdom — has been detected in several states.

"We really need to make sure that we begin, and we already have, to prepare if it's necessary to upgrade the vaccines," Fauci said