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US to restrict travel from South Africa, other countries due to new COVID variant

The WHO says early evidence «suggests an increased risk of reinfection» with the omicron variant.

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites.

The US will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting on Monday. The move comes amid fears that a new COVID variant discovered in South Africa may be more transmissible and vaccine-resistant than the delta variant.

President Joe Biden was briefed on Friday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, his chief medial adviser, and other members of the COVID response team about the variant. The new variant had already led Israel, Singapore and several European nations, including Britain, to block travel to southern Africa.

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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,» said Biden in a statement. «As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises.»

The US air travel restrictions will apply to travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. It’s unclear how long the restrictions will be in place.

The variant, which was given the name omicron by the World Health Organization on Friday, was first identified as B.1.1.529 in South Africa on Tuesday. Scientists are concerned about it because of its high number of mutations. Their worry is that vaccines designed to target previous COVID-19 variants may be less effective.

The WHO acknowledged in a Friday release that the variant was «concerning» and noted that preliminary evidence «suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant.»

There were 22 known cases of omicron as of Thursday, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. It’s also been detected in Botswana, South Africa’s neighbor to the north, as well as Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong, which are thousands of miles away.

«This variant did surprise us,» Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, said in a press conference on Thursday. «It has a big jump in evolution, many more mutations than we expected, especially after a very severe third wave of delta.»

US stocks tumbled Friday on the news of the variant, CNBC reported.

A ‘variant of concern’

In the nearly two years since the first outbreaks of the disease, there have been more than 260 million cases of COVID-19 reported worldwide, resulting in more than 5.1 million deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard. Vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have proved highly effective in restraining the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and in easing the effects for those who contract it. But vaccination rates vary widely around the globe and in individual nations.

Whether the mutations of Omicronwill translate to a more dangerous, transmissible and vaccine-resistant form of COVID-19 is as yet unknown. COVID-19 constantly mutates, and many of those mutations don’t substantially affect the virus.

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«We don’t know very much about this yet,» Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead of COVID, said in a livestream on Thursday. «What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves.»

«It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant will have.»

On Thursday, UK Secretary for State Health Sajid Javid announced that South Africa and five other southern African countries — Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini — would be added to the UK’s travel red list. Flights to those countries are being stopped, while travelers returning to the UK from those countries will have to quarantine.

Singapore, Italy, France and Israel have also placed Mozambique on their red lists, The New York Times noted. Dubai said it’ll restrict entrance to travelers from those countries starting Monday.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive arm, tweeted Friday that her commission would also propose restricting air travel to European countries from southern Africa.

The vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is the most widely administered in the US, according to CDC data, and a BioNTech spokesperson told Reuters it’ll quickly be able to determine how effective the vaccine is against the variant.

«We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally,» the spokesperson said Friday. An escape variant would resist the targeted immune response caused by vaccination.

That a new variant has emerged in Africa comes as little surprise to many epidemiologists. Viruses, like the one that causes COVID, mutate during replication. In places with low vaccinations and high case numbers, new variants are more likely to arise, as in the case of delta’s emergence from India. African countries have low vaccination rates, and huge parts of the population are too poor to miss work via shelter-in-place orders or to seek medical help. South Africa is the richest country in Africa, yet only has a double vaccination rate of around 23%.

On Friday, Biden said the emergence of the omicron variant underscores the need for «global vaccinations» to end the pandemic. He urged officials attending a World Trade Organization meeting next week to waive intellectual property protections for COVID vaccines, a position the president endorsed earlier this year.

CNET’s Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Aug. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.


Today’s Mini Crossword cites one of my favorite childhood shows in 6-Across. Hint: Think of a red-headed comedian who was famous for tugging her ear and for some classic commercial parodies — and who is still with us at age 92. Need answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Perch for a family photo
Answer: SHELF

6A clue: Burnett with a variety show from 1967 to 1978
Answer: CAROL

7A clue: Plant that yields mezcal
Answer: AGAVE

8A clue: Deceptive ploys
Answer: RUSES

9A clue: «You’ve gotta be kidding me!»
Answer: YEESH

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: How a leap of faith might feel
Answer: SCARY

2D clue: Dutch seat of government, with «The»
Answer: HAGUE

3D clue: What many pencils can do that magic markers can’t
Answer: ERASE

4D clue: Holds dear
Answer: LOVES

5D clue: _ and blood (kin)
Answer: FLESH

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 24, #805

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 24, #805.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.


Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a real mix. The green category reminds me that the puzzle editors love to find common words that have second meanings that are somewhat rare. Hint: «Rent» doesn’t only mean money you pay to a landlord. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Cheers!

Green group hint: You don’t want this to happen to your pants.

Blue group hint: Sssss…

Purple group hint: Do this with a phone.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Wine vessels.

Green group: Ripped.

Blue group: Kinds of snakes.

Purple group: ____ call.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is wine vessels. The four answers are bottle, carafe, decanter and glass.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is ripped. The four answers are cleft, rent, split and torn.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of snakes. The four answers are coral, garter, king and rattle.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ call. The four answers are booty, close, cold and curtain.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Aug. 24, #335

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Aug. 24, No. 335.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.


Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is tough. I played some darts in bars back in the day, but I didn’t know very much about the game, apparently. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Whack!

Green group hint: Sunshine State.

Blue group hint: Popular bar game.

Purple group hint: They have halos.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Used to hit a ball.

Green group: A South Florida athlete.

Blue group: Darts terms.

Purple group: Angels to win MVP.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is used to hit a ball. The four answers are bat, club, paddle and racket.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is a South Florida athlete. The four answers are Buccaneer, Dolphin, Marlin and Panther.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is darts terms. The four answers are Big Fish, Bull’s-Eye, Nine-Darter and Oche.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Angels to win MVP. The four answers are Baylor, Guerrero, Ohtani and Trout.

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