Learning English

Omicron: New Covid strain, new travel restrictions

Several countries have moved to restrict travel with southern Africa after a new Covid-19 variant was discovered. The variant has been called Omicron and The World Health Organization (WHO) have classed it as a variant of concern due to early signs that it may have a higher chance of reinfection.

Roy and Neil discuss this news story and teach you some related vocabulary so you can talk about it too.

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The story 

The United States and Australia have joined the growing number of countries banning Travel from much of southern Africa to try to slow the spread of a new Covid variant.

The World Health Organisation has classified Omicron as a variant of concern because of early indications that it carries a high risk of reinfection. President Biden said the US had to be vigilant.

Key words and phrases

clamp down
act officially to prevent something from happening

• The government decided to clamp down on benefit fraud after a sharp rise in the number of cases.
• The manager clamped down on lateness after a number of employees consistently didn’t arrive on time.

double down
do something in a stronger way than before

• The local council has announced it will double down on illegal parking.
• The school has doubled down on smoking. Any child with cigarettes will be suspended.

blessing in disguise
something which at first looks bad, but in the end is good

• Rob eating all the biscuits was a blessing in disguise for my diet.
• I was annoyed when I missed the bus, but I realised it was a blessing in disguise after finding out it was in an accident!

To do

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