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

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

While the new omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has not yet been detected in the United States, it will "inevitably" arrive, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

"We all know when you have a virus that has already gone to multiple countries, inevitably it will be here," Fauci told ABC's "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos. "The question is, will be prepared for it?

-ABC News' Bill Hutchinson

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