The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng will tomorrow Thursday, December 2, 2021 address the nation on the new COVID-19 variant, named by the World Health Organisation as Omicron.

The address which had earlier been scheduled for today has been pushed to tomorrow, Thursday according to the Health Ministry spokesperson, Emmanuel Ainebyoona.

“The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng will address the country on the Omicron COVID-19 variant and the Ministry of Health measures to curb its importation tomorrow, Thursday at Uganda Media Centre at 12:00PM. Not today as earlier communicated,” Ainebyoona announced.

Omicron variant was first detected in Southern Africa a few days ago.

Following its confirmation, various countries restricted entry of travelers from 8 Southern African countries.

The restrictions apply to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

The United States announced that it would restrict travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries to try to contain a new coronavirus variant spreading there.

Most non-U.S. citizens who had been in those countries would not be allowed entry into the United States.

The European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK) and Canada also took similar measures as the United States.