Germany's outgoing health minister has said that travel curbs that limit arrivals to the European Union are important until more is known about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Late in November, EU states agreed to impose travel restrictions on seven southern African countries after they reported several cases of the Omicron variant, which is considered highly infectious.

“Until we know more, we need to be careful and so travel restrictions are important to keep the entry in Europe and Germany as low as possible,” Jens Spahn told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU health ministers in Brussels.