White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said the individual, who was fully vaccinated, had just returned from traveling in South Africa to the San Francisco area on Nov. 22 and tested positive on Nov. 29.

“The individual is self-quarantining and all close contacts have been contacted and all close contacts, thus far, have tested negative,” he announced at a White House press briefing providing more details of the case. “We feel good that this patient not only had mild symptoms, but actually the symptoms appear to be improving.”

On Monday, President Joe Biden called Omicron “a cause for concern, not panic,” and urged US people to get vaccinated as soon as possible because an Omicron presence is inevitable.

According to Joe Biden, there are some prohibitions for travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

US authorities recognized such a measure would only work to buy time in order to learn more about the new strain already present in a score of countries.

President Biden is expected to release his strategy for dealing with the new epidemiological context.

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