The United States let its Africa travel ban end on December 31, 2021, as the contagion threat is dissipating from this part of the world.

The United States is lifting restrictions on travelers from eight countries in southern Africa starting on Friday. The temporary curbs were imposed in late November after the omicron variant of the coronavirus was detected by South African scientists. “The restrictions gave us time to understand omicron and we know our existing vaccines work against omicron, esp boosted,” a White House spokesman said.

The affected countries were:

Botswana
Eswatini
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zimbabwe

Non-U.S. citizens coming from these countries can fly into the United States again and are subject to the current entry guidelines. Two requirements are having a negative pre-arrival test taken no more than 24 hours before departure and being fully vaccinated.