EXCERPT:
BIDEN: “Today I want to take a few moments to talk about the new Covid variant first identified last week in southern Africa. It’s called the Omnicron. It is — and to their credit the scientific community in South Africa quickly notified the world of the emergence of this new variant. This kind of transparency is to be encouraged and applauded because it increases our ability to respond quickly to any new threats. And that’s exactly what we did. The very day the World Health Organization identified the new variant I took immediate steps to restrict travel from countries in southern Africa, but while we had that travel restrictions can slow the speed of Omnicron, it cannot prevent it.”