COVID-19 updates: 2 cases of omicron variant confirmed in Canada, officials say

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed his nation on Sunday following the detection of the omicron COVID variant and said the country's National Coronavirus Command Council met Saturday to consider the recent rise in infections and the possible impact of the omicron variant. They have decided not to impose further restrictions at this stage.

"We considered the fact that when we encountered previous waves of infection, vaccines were not widely available and far fewer people were vaccinated," Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said they will closely monitor infection rates and hospitalization over the coming days and will review the situation in another week.

Only 23.66% of South Africa's population is fully vaccinated against COVID, according to the Africa CDC.

President Joe Biden, who is returning to the White House Sunday afternoon, will be briefed in person by his COVID-19 response team and Dr. Anthony Fauci for an update on the omicron variant.

This is Biden's third briefing on omicron since Friday.

"This afternoon, the president will have an in-person briefing with members of his COVID-19 response team and Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Fauci to provide an update on the omicron variant and the administration’s response," a White House official told ABC News.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

The symptoms from the omicron COVID-19 variant are mild, according to the South African doctor who spotted the variant.

"Looking at the mildness of the (omicron) symptoms that we are seeing, currently, there's no reason for panicking as we don't see severely ill patients," Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who is the Chair of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters. "The hype that's been created currently out there in the media and worldwide doesn't correlate with the clinical picture. And it doesn't warrant to just cut us off from any traveling and ban South Africa, as if we are the variants in the whole process, it should not be like that."

Coetzee said the most predominant complaints from those who have tested positive omicron are severe fatigue for a couple of days, as well as headaches and body aches.

-ABC News' Clark Bentson

Israel's Health Ministry reports on Sunday that it has detected one case of the omicron variant in a person that traveled to Tel Aviv from Malawi and then on Nov. 22, traveled from Tel Aviv to Eilat on a bus. They are now asking for all of those bus passengers to self-quarantine and be tested.

Foreign nationals will not be allowed entry to Israel for two weeks, beginning Monday, Nov. 29.

This decision was made by the Israeli cabinet in a meeting held Saturday night. The cabinet discussed how best to go forward in light of the discovery of the new COVID variant.

However, the World Health Organization released a statement on Sunday saying it stands with African nations and call for borders to remain open.

"The speed and transparency of the South African and Botswana governments in informing the world of the new variant is to be commended. WHO stands with African countries which had the courage to boldly share life-saving public health information, helping protect the world against the spread of COVID-19," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said in a statement Sunday.

-ABC News' Bruno Nota