Cases of the new coronavirus variant “Omicron” have arisen in various countries from around the world on Sunday. Many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it’s not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus.The variant was identified days ago by researchers in South Africa, and studies are being conducted to understand it’s aspects, including whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious illness or able to evade the protection of vaccines.However, many countries rushed to act, reflecting anxiety about anything that could prolong the pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people.Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday among the most drastic of a growing raft of travel curbs being imposed by nations around the world as they scrambled to slow the variant’s spread.Scientists in several places from Hong Kong to Europe to North America have confirmed this variant’s presence. The Netherlands reported 13 omicron cases on Sunday, and both Canada and Australia have each found two.Noting that the variant has already been detected in many countries and that closing borders often has limited effect, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for frontiers to remain open.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Omicron variant reflects the threat of prolonged vaccine injustice.The longer we take to deliver #VaccinEquity, the more we allow the #COVID19 virus to circulate, mutate and become potentially more dangerous.He said the WHO is working with scientists around the world to better understand key aspects of the Omicron variant and its impact on the key tools.Also read: COVID-19: How the Omicron Variant Was FoundWHO has said it is not yet clear whether the newly-detected coronavirus variant Omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease compared to other variants, including the highly-transmissible and globally prevalent Delta variant.Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States (NIH), emphasized that there is no data yet that suggests the new variant causes more serious illness than previous COVID-19 variants.“I do think it’s more contagious when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa. It has the earmarks therefore of being particularly likely to spread from one person to another. What we don’t know is whether it can compete with delta,” Collins said on CNN’s State of the Union.Collins echoed several experts in saying the news should make everyone redouble their efforts to use the tools the world already has, including vaccinations, booster shots and measures such as mask-wearing.“I know, America, you’re really tired about hearing those things, but the virus is not tired of us,” Collins said.However, WHO said on Sunday that even as researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron and will continue to share the findings of these studies as they become available, it is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g. more easily spread from person to person) compared to other variants, including Delta.Also read: Being ‘Punished’ For Detecting New COVID-19 Variant Omicron: South AfricaIt said the number of people testing positive has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant, but epidemiologic studies are underway to understand if it is because of Omicron or other factors.The Dutch public health authority confirmed that 13 people who arrived from South Africa on Friday have so far tested positive for omicron. They were among 61 people who tested positive for the virus after arriving on the last two flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport before a flight ban was implemented. They were immediately put into isolation, at a nearby hotel.Canada’s health minister says the country’s first two cases of omicron were found in Ontario after two individuals who had recently travelled from Nigeria tested positive.Authorities in Australia said two travellers who arrived in Sydney from Africa became the first in the country to test positive for the new variant. Arrivals from nine African countries are now required to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival. Two German states reported a total of three cases in returning travellers over the weekend.Israel moved to ban entry by foreigners and mandate quarantine for all Israelis arriving from abroad.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday said that Japan is considering stepping up border controls. Kishida told reporters that he planned to announce new measures in addition to the current 10-day quarantine requirement for travellers from South Africa and eight other nearby countries. Japan still has its border closed to foreign tourists from any country.Morocco’s Foreign Ministry tweeted on Sunday that all incoming air travel to the North African country would be suspended to preserve the achievements realized by Morocco in the fight against the pandemic, and to protect the health of citizens. Morocco has been at the forefront of vaccinations in Africa, and kept its borders closed for months in 2020 because of the pandemic.🔴Due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 new variant – Omicron (B.1.1.529), particularly in Europe and Africa, and in order to preserve the gains made by Morocco in the fight against the pandemic and protect citizens⬇️ pic.twitter.com/20ZsNdSBv7— Moroccan Diplomacy 🇲🇦 (@Marocdiplo_EN) November 28, 2021The US plans to ban travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday.“It’s going to give us a period of time to enhance our preparedness,” the United States’ top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, spoke regarding the ban on ABC’s This Week.Many countries are introducing such bans, though they go against the advice of the WHO, which has warned against any overreaction before the variant is thoroughly studied.Fauci says it will take approximately two more weeks to have more definitive information on the transmissibility, severity and other characteristics of omicron, according to a statement from the White House.South Africa’s government reacted to the travel bans by saying they are akin to “punishing” South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker.The WHO sent out a statement saying it stands with African nations and noted that travel restrictions may play a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods. It said, “if restrictions are put in place, they should be scientifically based and not intrusive.”In Europe, much of which already has been struggling recently with a sharp increase in cases, officials were on guard.On Saturday, UK tightened the rules for people arriving in Britain and ordered the use of masks in retail settings and on public transport in England.However, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government was nowhere near reinstituting work from home or more severe social-distancing measures.“We know now those types of measures do carry a very heavy price, both economically, socially, in terms of non-COVID health outcomes such as impact on mental health,” he told Sky News.According to Reuters, Britain said it will convene an urgent meeting of G7 health ministers on Monday to discuss developments on the new Omicron coronavirus variant.Spain announced it won’t admit unvaccinated British visitors starting December 1. Italy was going through lists of airline passengers who arrived in the past two weeks. France is continuing to push vaccinations and booster shots.David Hui, a respiratory medicine expert and government adviser on the pandemic in Hong Kong, agreed with that strategy.He said the two people who tested positive for the omicron variant had received the Pfizer vaccine and exhibited very mild symptoms, such as a sore throat.“Vaccines should work but there would be some reduction in effectiveness,” he said.Currently, the WHO is coordinating with a large number of researchers around the world to better understand Omicron and studies currently underway or underway shortly include assessments of transmissibility, severity of infection (including symptoms), performance of vaccines and diagnostic tests and effectiveness of treatments.WHO encourages countries to contribute the collection and sharing of hospitalised patient data through the WHO COVID-19 Clinical Data Platform to rapidly describe clinical characteristics and patient outcomes, the global health organisation said.(with inputs from PTI)
