KEEP BORDERS OPEN AS WE TACKLE NEW VARIANT: WHO

Sun 28 November 2021:

The head of the WHO in Africa has urged countries to follow the science rather than imposing flight bans in a bid to contain the new Omicron variant.

WHO urged countries to keep borders open, saying banning flights over the potentially more transmissable Omicron strain “attacks global solidarity.”

“With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity,” said WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moet, reported by AFP.

The WHO said in a statement it stands with African nations and calls for borders to remain open, after a spate of travel bans announced on Sunday.

“Travel restrictions may play a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” the UN agency’s statement said. “If restrictions are implemented, they should not be unnecessarily invasive or intrusive, and should be scientifically based.”

Moet’s comments come after Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, where Omicron was first sequencesd on 24 November, called on countries to “urgently” reverse “scientifically unjustified” flight bans.

“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic,” he added, urging South Africans to get vaccinated.

The WHO and other researchers are still assessing the virulence and severity of the strain and whether it could evade existing vaccines – with preliminary research showing over 30 mutations to the virus spike protein.

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent