New York, December 6 (RHC)-- The Omicron coronavirus variant is continuing to spread around the world — with cases detected in nearly 50 nations and nearly one-third of U.S. states.  Omicron’s proliferation has led dozens of nations to impose new travel restrictions. 

Beginning today, all international travelers entering the United States will have to take a coronavirus test within one day of their departure, or prove that they’ve recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days. 

It’s still unknown whether Omicron poses more risk than earlier forms of the coronavirus.  The World Health Organization has so far not reported any deaths linked to the new variant.  It’s unknown if Omicron will overtake Delta, the highly transmissible variant which now accounts for most of the world’s infections. Here in the U.S., COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise in a post-Thanksgiving holiday surge, with an average of nearly 110,000 infections reported each day.