Spain has already confirmed its first case. WHO calls for more vaccine help from Africa.
The new variant of the coronavirus called omicron continues to appear in more countries, so governments in various regions, including Latin America, are taking action.
Chile’s health authorities announced this Monday that they will ban non-resident foreigners from seven southern African countries as of December 1 as a precaution.
Those affected by the restriction will be people traveling to the South American country from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini and Mozambique.
The Chilean authorities, which adds more than 1.76 million infections and more than 38,300 deaths from the pandemic, also ruled out the opening of land borders on December 1, as planned a few weeks ago.
The Government of Argentina established a mandatory quarantine for anyone who has been in Africa in the 14 days prior to entering the South American country – in addition, they must have a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before entering Argentina and perform an antigen test. upon arrival in the country, while it will maintain the suspension of direct flights from that continent to reinforce epidemiological surveillance before the appearance of the new omicron variant.
While Brazil, which is achieving low averages of infections, is on alert for the new variant, of which its potential and resistance to vaccines are unknown, and on Saturday it expanded to ten the list of African nations with restrictions for their travelers.
Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia joined South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) are on the list of countries with closed air borders with Brazil.
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo asked those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so because it is “the smart thing to do,” especially when a new risk variant of the coronavirus has been identified and detected in several countries around the world.
The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, announced that Cortizo will be proposed to restrict the entry into the country of travelers from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini or Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi.
This occurs when there are also countries in the region with an increase in cases. Ten provinces of Peru entered a high alert level this Monday in the face of the increase in cases, as part of the extension of the state of national health emergency, which has been extended until December 31.
The Government of that country has also arranged that from December 1, entry by air and land from Chile and Ecuador will be allowed to people who have completed the full vaccination before 14 days or have a negative result in a molecular test Obtained 72 hours in advance. However, it was determined that the land borders with Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia will remain closed and the restriction of the entry of people from South Africa was also confirmed, in principle until December 12.
Canada also announced today the detection of two confirmed cases of the omicron variant in its territory, which would be the first two reported in America. SThere are two individuals who came to the country from Nigeria.
This, while Spain reported on Monday the first case of omicron variant, detected by the microbiology service of the Gregorio Marañón hospital in Madrid.
The patient, who is in isolation while in quarantine, returned from South Africa last Sunday with a stopover in Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, considered this Monday that the new variant of COVID-19, called omicron, “is cause for concern, but not for panic,” for which he assured that experts do not consider that “additional measures” are necessary in the country.
This was indicated by Biden in an intervention from the White House accompanied by the chief epidemiologist of the US Government, Antony Fauci, who admitted last Saturday that it is possible that the new variant has already reached the United States, but has not yet been detected.
The president stressed that the country is in a “better situation” than Christmas last year, and urged citizens to seek the booster dose of vaccines available in the US.
In the United Kingdom, eleven cases of the omicron variant have so far been recorded in the United Kingdom: five in England and six in Scotland, some of them unrelated to travel abroad.
Faced with the emergence of the omnicron strain, the United Kingdom convened on Monday a virtual meeting of health ministers from the G7 that London is chairing this year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned today that the global risks posed by the omicron variant are “very high”, for which it asked all governments to accelerate vaccination against COVID and strengthen surveillance measures against possible outbreaks of this derivative of the coronavirus.
The organization’s latest technical report, released today, considers that, taking into account the speed with which the variant develops new mutations that are potentially more resistant to vaccines and more contagious, the risk of transmission is “high”, which forces to intensify prevention strategies.
“There may be new waves of COVID-19 with serious consequences, depending on many factors, such as the place where these waves occur,” warns the report, published on the same day that the WHO inaugurated an extraordinary assembly to promote the negotiation of a international treaty on preparedness and response to future pandemics.
Despite this, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, said today that he is “deeply concerned about the isolation of southern African countries” in the face of new travel restrictions imposed by the appearance of the omicron variant.
“The nations of Africa cannot bear the blame for the immorally low level of vaccines available in Africa, nor should they be penalized for identifying and sharing scientific and health information crucial to the world,” says Guterres in reference to the early warning launched by the Government of South Africa upon detecting the new variant of the virus.
According to the statistical portal Statista.com, only 10% of Africans have received at least one dose of vaccination as of November 25, compared to 71% in North America, 67% in Latin America or 64% in Europe.
The rate of vaccination is so low on the African continent that the WHO aspires at best to be able to vaccinate 20% of the population of Africa by 2022.
Faced with this scenario, the President of China, Xi Jinping, said on Monday that his country will provide Africa with one billion doses of vaccines, within the framework of the eighth ministerial conference of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (Focac), which seeks to reinforce relations between both parties and which is being held in Dakar until this Tuesday. (I)
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