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

As concerns grow with the omicron COVID-19 variant, two of the world's major coronavirus vaccine makers said they'll be able to develop a vaccine to combat the new variant.

Pfizer/BioNTech said that if a "vaccine-escape variant emerges," they "expect to be able to develop and produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, subject to regulatory approval."

"Pfizer and BioNTech are remaining vigilant, and we are constantly conducting surveillance efforts focused on monitoring for emerging variants that potentially escape protection from our vaccine," the company said in a statement to ABC News.

Similarly, Moderna's Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton told the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday that they've mobilized hundreds of employees starting on Thanksgiving and expect to know the ability of the current vaccine to provide protection against the new variant "in the next couple of weeks."

 "If we have to make a brand-new vaccine, I think that's going to be early 2022 before that's really going to be available in large quantity," he told the BBC.

-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway

As countries around the world prepare for the spread of the omicron variant, one of the U.S.'s largest manufacturers of COVID-19 tests says it is "confident" its products will detect the new strain.

"Abbott has been intently monitoring the mutations of COVID-19 so we can ensure our tests can detect them," Abbott Laboratories said in a statement Saturday night. "We have already conducted an assessment of the Omicron variant and we're confident our rapid and PCR tests can detect the virus. While the Omicron variant contains mutations to the spike protein, Abbott's rapid and PCR tests do not rely on the spike proteins to detect the virus."

Abbott said both its ID NOW tests, used by medical professionals, and BinaxNOW tests, sold for at-home use, have been shown to detect the virus.

The company is currently manufacturing 100 million tests a month for use worldwide. The U.S. government is among those to have purchased the tests, with President Joe Biden announcing in late September that millions of dollars worth of tests would be purchased.

The omicron strain, first detected in southern Africa, has now been identified in several European countries. It was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Friday.

Israel has become the latest country to institute a travel ban due to the newly emerged omicron variant -- and it's going a step further than other countries.

The country announced Saturday it will be closing its borders to all foreign travelers -- not just those from southern Africa -- for two weeks starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday, the government said. Unvaccinated Israelis who return from overseas will be forced to take a PCR test upon landing and enter home isolation. They will receive a second PCR test on the third day of isolation and be allowed to resume their normal activities if negative.

Israelis returning to the country from certain high-risk countries will be forced to isolate at a hotel until receiving two negative tests.

The country said plans instituted last week to deal with Hanukkah celebrations, including limits on the size of gatherings, will remain unchanged. Hanukkah begins on Sunday.

-ABC News' Joshua Hoyos

South Africa has complained it is being punished for discovering the new variant

A statement by the South African International Relations & Cooperation Department criticized the travel bans and said the bans were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker."

"Excellent science should be applauded and not punished. The global community needs collaboration and partnerships in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement from the South African goverment also read.

"A combination of South Africa’s capacity to test and it’s ramped-up vaccination programme, backed up by world class scientific community, should give our global partners the comfort that we are doing as well as they are in managing the pandemic. South Africa follows and enforces globally recognised COVID-19 health protocols on travel. No infected individuals are permitted to leave the country," the statement continued.

South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor said: "Whilst we respect the right of all countries to take the necessary precautionary measures to protect their citizens, we need to remember that this pandemic requires collaboration and sharing of expertise. Our immediate concern is the damage that these restrictions are causing to families, the travel and tourism industries and business."

South Africa has already started engaging countries that have imposed travel bans with the view to persuade them to reconsider.