As the globe scrambled Saturday to control a new strain of the coronavirus that has the potential to be more resistant to vaccination protection, fresh limits were imposed on travel from countries in southern Africa with each passing hour.
In response to warnings about the transmissibility of the new variant, a number of countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iran, Japan, Thailand, and the United States, joined others, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, in imposing restrictions on southern African countries, against the World Health Organization’s advice.
Despite the shutdown of flights, there was increasing evidence that the variant is already spreading. Cases have been reported in travelers in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong, and Germany also has a probable case. Dutch authorities are checking for the new variant after 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19.
The global health body has named the new variant omicron, labeling it a variant of concern because of its high number of mutations and some early evidence that it carries a higher degree of infection than other variants. That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again. It could take weeks to know if current vaccines are less effective against it.
With so much uncertainty about the omicron variant and scientists unlikely to flesh out their findings for a few weeks, countries around the world have been taking a safety-first approach, in the knowledge that previous outbreaks of the pandemic have been partly fueled by lax border policies.
“It seems to spread rapidly,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday of the new variant, only a day after celebrating the resumption of Thanksgiving gatherings for millions of American families and the sense that normal life was coming back at least for the vaccinated. In announcing new travel restrictions, he told reporters, “I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious.”
Nearly two years on since the start of the pandemic that has claimed more than 5 million lives around the world, countries are on high alert.
Dutch authorities have isolated 61 people who tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday. They are carrying out further investigations to see if any of the travelers have the omicron variant.
The planes arrived in the Netherlands from Johannesburg and Cape Town shortly after the Dutch government imposed a ban on flights from southern African nations.
The 539 travelers who tested negative were allowed to return home or continue their journeys to other countries. Under government regulations, those who live in the Netherlands and are allowed to return home must self-isolate for at least five days.
A German official also said Saturday that there’s a “very high probability” that the omicron variant has already arrived in the country.
Kai Klose, the health minister for Hesse state, which includes Frankfurt, said in a tweet that “several mutations typical of omicron” were found Friday night in a traveler returning from South Africa, who was isolated at home. Sequencing of the test had yet to be completed.
Even while there is no clear sign that the variant causes more severe disease, the variant’s rapid distribution among young people in South Africa has frightened health specialists. omicron has converted a phase of low transmission in the country into one of high development in just two weeks.
AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer are among the pharmaceutical companies that have stated that they have preparations in place to adjust their vaccinations in light of the advent of omicron.
Source_ The Canadian Press
