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NEW YORK: The global pandemic response has transformed with dizzying speed since scientists in Botswana and South Africa, alarmed by dozens of mutations never seen before, started studying the Omicron variant. In just 36 hours, researchers analysed samples from 100 infected patients, collated the data and alerted the world, setting off new rounds of travel restrictions and adding uncertainty about the trajectory of a pandemic. Omicron has reached over 40 countries, although most of the cases so far have been found in arriving travellers. According to scientists in South Africa, Omicron appears to spread faster than any other variant, thanks to a combination of contagiousness and an ability to dodge the body’s immune defences.
Global concern has not waited for a fuller picture to take shape. The WHO acted with alacrity. Even before the WHO meeting was over, over 10 countries, including the US, had announced they would close borders to travellers from southern Africa. Japan, Israel and Morocco went a step furthering, sealing themselves off completely to foreigners. These curbs continue to grow.
From Monday, the US has made it mandatory for all incoming passengers, including those from India, to test negative within a day before their flights or carry a proof of recovery. The variant has been reported in at least 16 states by Saturday, about one-third of the country. Amid growing fear, many vaccination clinics are reporting long lines and delays in booking appointments recently. Vaccine demand has more than doubled since the beginning of October, especially for boosters and first doses, according to CDC.
Beginning Tuesday, travellers will be required to take a Covid test within 48 hours of travelling to Britain regardless of their vaccination status. The reintroduction of compulsory pre-departure testing has prompted an angry response from the travel industry. Justice secretary Dominic Raab said he knew the new measure was a “burden” but stressed the UK needed to act. Experts cautioned that travel restrictions and bans will not halt the new variant’s spread. A government science adviser, Mark Woolhouse, told BBC that the latest steps “may be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”. “I think it’s too late to make a material difference to the course of the Omicron wave.”
In Australia, five people in Sydney have contracted the Omicron variant locally. The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym. On Friday, three students had were reported to have been infected due to community transmission. New South Wales state has confirmed 15 Omicron cases. The rise in cases came as Australia provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids between the ages of 5 and 11.
Meanwhile, Senegal has recorded its first Omirant case, becoming the third West African nation to detect the variant after Nigeria and Ghana. Romania said two recent travellers to South Africa tested positive for the variant. Chile’s first case was a foreign resident who had travelled recently from Ghana.
Global concern has not waited for a fuller picture to take shape. The WHO acted with alacrity. Even before the WHO meeting was over, over 10 countries, including the US, had announced they would close borders to travellers from southern Africa. Japan, Israel and Morocco went a step furthering, sealing themselves off completely to foreigners. These curbs continue to grow.
From Monday, the US has made it mandatory for all incoming passengers, including those from India, to test negative within a day before their flights or carry a proof of recovery. The variant has been reported in at least 16 states by Saturday, about one-third of the country. Amid growing fear, many vaccination clinics are reporting long lines and delays in booking appointments recently. Vaccine demand has more than doubled since the beginning of October, especially for boosters and first doses, according to CDC.
Beginning Tuesday, travellers will be required to take a Covid test within 48 hours of travelling to Britain regardless of their vaccination status. The reintroduction of compulsory pre-departure testing has prompted an angry response from the travel industry. Justice secretary Dominic Raab said he knew the new measure was a “burden” but stressed the UK needed to act. Experts cautioned that travel restrictions and bans will not halt the new variant’s spread. A government science adviser, Mark Woolhouse, told BBC that the latest steps “may be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”. “I think it’s too late to make a material difference to the course of the Omicron wave.”
In Australia, five people in Sydney have contracted the Omicron variant locally. The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym. On Friday, three students had were reported to have been infected due to community transmission. New South Wales state has confirmed 15 Omicron cases. The rise in cases came as Australia provisionally approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids between the ages of 5 and 11.
Meanwhile, Senegal has recorded its first Omirant case, becoming the third West African nation to detect the variant after Nigeria and Ghana. Romania said two recent travellers to South Africa tested positive for the variant. Chile’s first case was a foreign resident who had travelled recently from Ghana.
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