Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the U.S. is looking to lift a South African travel ban in a “reasonable period of time,” as more is understood about the severity of the Omicron variant.

President Joe Biden announced the travel ban on Nov. 26 after growing concerns about the variant.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Fauci said that “when the ban was put on, it was put to give us time to figure out just what is going on."

“As we're getting more and more information about cases in our own country and worldwide, we're looking at that very carefully on a daily basis. Hopefully, we'll be able to lift that ban within a quite reasonable period of time,” he said.

Fauci explained that the travel ban is being reviewed because there is no current specific proof that the Omicron variant is any more severe than other COVID variants.

“Thus far, though it's too early to really make any definitive statements about it, thus far, it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said.

When speaking about the protection that the vaccines and booster shots can provide against the Omicron variant, Fauci said that “we feel certain” of its capabilities.

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