The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other African countries on Monday, Nov. 29, in a bid to control the spread of the new COVID-19 variant. The White House, in a statement to news outlets on Friday, said the United States is restricting travel from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi. “President Biden has promised to take every measure necessary to keep Americans safe and defeat the pandemic, and this was a step recommended by U.S. government medical experts and the COVID-19 Response Team,” the White House statement to news outlets said. The White House hasn’t immediately responded to a request for comment. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday dubbed the new strain Omicron and described it as heavily mutated. The U.N. health agency said the variant may be able to re-infect individuals who were previously infected with COVID-19. The European Union, Israel, the …