The mutation has been detected in Botswana, Hong Kong, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic.
The new variant of the coronavirus, omicron, continues to spread around the world after 13 cases detected in the Netherlands, and led Israel to close its borders to foreign citizens.
With more than five million deaths worldwide since the pandemic was declared in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) considered the new omicron variant, detected this week, as “worrying.”
Identified in South Africa on Thursday, many countries reacted by closing their borders with southern African nations.
In the Netherlands, health authorities announced on Sunday that thirteen passengers from South Africa who tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Amsterdam on Friday are carrying the omicron variant.
And there could be more cases, since, in total, 61 positives for coronavirus were detected.
Israel, where a case of a traveler from Malawi was confirmed, decided to prohibit the entry of foreigners into its territory as of Sunday, as well as to force its vaccinated citizens back to the country to carry out a PCR test and three days of quarantine ( seven in the case of the unvaccinated).
This decision comes less than a month after the country had reopened its borders (on November 1), and eight days before the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
In Denmark, health authorities announced on Sunday two cases of infected with the new strain in passengers from South Africa.
In Australia, authorities announced on Sunday the detection of the omicron strain in two vaccinated passengers returning from southern Africa, who had arrived in Sydney on the same day that this country’s borders with nine countries in southern Africa were closed. Twelve passengers on the same flight are in quarantine.
Australia had recently lifted the ban on its vaccinated citizens from traveling abroad without authorization.
The omicron variant was also detected in Botswana, Hong Kong and several European countries (Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic).
New restrictions
The new variant B.1.1.529 of covid-19, baptized “omicron”, represents a risk “from high to very high” for Europe, according to the Health Agency of the European Union.
A group of WHO experts affirms that, with the preliminary data, omicron presents “a high risk of reinfection”, greater than that of variants such as delta. No other variant had created so much alarm in the world since delta.
Europe was already experiencing an increase in cases long before the appearance of omicron, which led to the reestablishment of sanitary restrictions, leading to violent demonstrations last weekend in the Netherlands and the French Antilles.
In Austria, tens of thousands of people demonstrated this weekend against being vaccinated.
The Swiss voted yes this Sunday to the law that allows the establishment of the covid passport in the country, in the middle of the fifth wave of the pandemic and after a tense electoral campaign that raised fears of new demonstrations during the day.
New restrictions will take effect on Tuesday in the United Kingdom, such as the return of the masks and the tightening of access to the country.
Other countries are announcing the suspension of flights from southern African countries where the variant is present, such as South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini (or Swaziland), Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana.
Angola, on the UK’s red list, became the first southern African country to suspend its flights in the area on Sunday.
The Philippines, for its part, announced the cancellation of flights from areas where the variant has been detected.
Saudi Arabia extended the list of countries with which it suspends flights to 14. Kuwait and Qatar (a major air hub) also announced restrictions with nine and five African countries, respectively.
“Transparency”
In the United States, which had also opened its borders to the world at the beginning of November, the arrival of travelers from eight countries in southern Africa will be prohibited.
Washington congratulated South Africa on Saturday for the “transparency in sharing this information” after the southern country felt “punished” for having announced the detection of “omicron.” An undisguised allusion by the US to China’s initial management of the pandemic.
The vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax were confident in their ability to fight this new strain.
About 54% of the world’s population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, only 5.6% in low-income countries, according to the Our World in Data page. In South Africa, only 23.8% of the population has the full pattern.
The new variant caused concern regarding the global economic recovery, and Friday was a black day for the stock index and the price of oil. (I)
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