The World Health Organization (WHO) asked this Sunday (28) that countries keep their borders open while dealing with the new omicron variant of the coronavirus and said it is “on the side of African countries” in a statement.
The identification of the new strain in South Africa, on Thursday (26), led many countries to ban flights from southern African nations, which even left thousands of tourists stranded in the region.
According to a statement published on the WHO website, it is still unclear whether the new variant is more transmissible compared to other SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as delta, or whether it causes more severe disease.
The agency, however, has already characterized the strain as a variant of concern, as it potentially causes more damage. It is also not known whether vaccines are less effective in containing the omicron.
“Preliminary data suggest that there are rising rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to the increase in the overall number of people becoming infected, rather than due to a specific omicron infection,” the statement said.
The doctor who identified the variant, Angélique Coetzee, said the symptoms were actually milder compared to other strains of the coronavirus.
Also on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, stated in a speech on television that travel restrictions for passengers arriving from South Africa must be lifted immediately.
The European Union and several other countries closed their borders to flights coming from countries in southern Africa, for an indefinite period.
Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on how the virus is evolving. The government had already said that the country felt “punished” for having alerted the world to the new strain.
“The travel ban is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant,” he said.
According to Ramaphosa, the country could face a fourth wave of Covid-19 soon, as the new variant is causing an increase in infections in the most populous province of Gauteng.
“If cases continue to increase, we can expect to enter a fourth wave of infections in the coming weeks, if not sooner,” he warned.
Ramaphosa added that authorities did not consider imposing economic restrictions for the time being, and criticized wealthy Western countries for their automatic imposition of travel bans after hearing about the omicron.
He also said the government is considering making vaccination mandatory for access to workplaces, public events, public transport and public facilities.
Until this Sunday morning, there were confirmed cases in at least eight European countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Czech Republic. Israel has also detected cases and closed its borders for at least two weeks to all foreigners.
The sequencing of the omicron was initially carried out in South Africa, which does not mean that the variant appeared there: the country has invested in pandemic surveillance and in gene sequencing of the coronavirus, which increases its chances of finding mutants. The first known sample with the variant was collected in Botswana.
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