Air travellers to the United States will face tougher COVID-19 testing rules, as more countries tighten their borders amid uncertainty around the virulence of the Omicron variant and its ability to evade vaccine protection.
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Japan and Hong Kong will expand travel curbs and Malaysia has temporarily banned travellers from countries deemed at risk.
Japan, which had already barred all new foreign entrants, reported its second case of the new variant on Wednesday.
Other countries braced for more cases: in Australia at least two people visited several locations in Sydney while likely infectious and in Denmark an infected person attended a large concert.
The World Health Organisation said "blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods", while advising those unwell, at risk or 60 years or over and unvaccinated to postpone travel.
Investors remained on edge on Wednesday, even as financial markets came off lows plumbed a day earlier following remarks by the chief executive of Moderna that raised questions about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron.
Global health officials have since offered reassurances and reiterated calls for people to get vaccinated.
"Our best form of defence still remains our vaccines," British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Sky News.
"It's possible of course, it's possible that it might be less effective. We just don't know for sure yet. But it's also very likely that it will remain effective against serious disease," he said.
European Medicines Agency executive director Emer Cooke earlier said laboratory analyses should indicate over the next couple of weeks whether the blood of vaccinated people has sufficient antibodies to neutralise the new variant.
The European Union brought forward the start of its vaccine rollout for five-to-11-year-old children by a week to December 13.
BioNTech's chief executive said the vaccine it makes in a partnership with Pfizer would likely offer strong protection against severe disease from Omicron.
Britain and the United States have both expanded their booster programs in response to the new variant.
First reported in southern Africa a week ago, Omicron has highlighted the disparity between massive vaccination pushes in rich nations and sparse inoculation in the developing world.
It has spread to more than a dozen countries, with Nigeria among the latest to report cases of the variant. Saudi Arabia confirmed its first case coming from a north African country.
Some 56 countries were reportedly implementing travel measures to guard against Omicron as of November 28, the WHO said.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he's concerned that several member states were "introducing blunt, blanket measures", which "will only worsen inequities".
The United States is moving to require that all air travellers entering the country show a negative COVID-19 test performed within one day of departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Tuesday.
Currently, vaccinated international travellers can present a negative result obtained within three days from their point of departure.
Malaysia will temporarily ban the entry of travellers from countries that have reported the Omicron coronavirus variant or are considered high risk, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
