The World Health Organization announced tonight (Friday) that the new variant has been discovered in South Africa as more contagious and has therefore been defined as more worrying than its predecessors. In addition, the organization announced its official name, which was given the name of the Greek letter – “Omicron”. After that, the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also expressed concern about the variant.
The virus was first detected during the week, after it broke out in several countries in Africa, including those defined as the focus of infection: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Aswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
Corona in Europe – a spike in morbidity. Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, other countries have decided to temporarily halt travel to and from South Africa, fearing an outbreak of the variant. President of the United States, Joe Biden, Announced that restrictions would be imposed on those entering his country from the eight African countries as of Monday, for fear of an outbreak. But the new restrictions do not apply to American citizens and do not prohibit departure to these destinations. Earlier, Dr. Anthony Pauchi said in an interview with CNN that according to the information in his possession, the new variant has not yet arrived in the United States.
Canada has also announced a ban on visiting the seven countries where infections have been detected. However, according to a senior official in the local health ministry, no infections have yet been discovered in the new variant.
The United Arab Emirates also banned the entry of travelers from the seven countries in South Africa where the new variant was discovered. The decision will be officially enforced starting November 29th. Turkey has also decided to close its borders to tourists from the five South African countries it has defined as the focus of the outbreak of the virus.
Other countries that have announced travel restrictions to and from South Africa: Spain, Denmark, Italy, Austria, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Netherlands, Malta, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Jordan, Guatemala and Switzerland. This is while the new variant has been detected in only a few dozen cases, mainly in South African countries, Hong Kong, a few isolated cases detected in Israel, and one case so far detected in Belgium, the first among European countries.
Earlier, the South African health minister addressed the panic surrounding the new corona strain, Omicron, stressing that he was confident the vaccines would prevent it from spreading.
.