“You have to be prepared to do anything and everything,” he added.
Fauci, in an interview with NBC News on Saturday, said he may already be in the United States, although no cases have been confirmed.
US health authorities will speak to their South African colleagues about the variant later on Sunday, he said in another interview on ABC News’ “This Week” program.
The variant puts the world on alert
The new variant of the coronavirus, omicron, continues to spread throughout the world after 13 cases detected in the Netherlands, and led Israel to close its borders to foreign citizens.
With more than five million deaths worldwide since the pandemic was declared in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) considered the new omicron variant, detected this week, as “worrying”.
Identified in South Africa on Thursday, many countries reacted by closing their borders with southern African nations.
In the Netherlands, health authorities announced on Sunday that thirteen passengers from South Africa who tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Amsterdam on Friday are carrying the omicron variant.
And there could be more cases, since, in total, 61 positives for coronavirus were detected.
With information from Reuters and AFP