THE HAGUE (Dispatches) – With each passing hour, new restrictions were being slapped on travel from countries in southern Africa as the world scurried Saturday to contain a new variant of the coronavirus that has the potential to be more resistant to the protection offered by vaccines.
A host of countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada Iran, Japan, Thailand and the United States, joined others, including the European Union and the UK in imposing restrictions on southern African countries in response to warnings over the transmissability of the new variant — against the advice of the World Health Organization.
Despite the shutdown of flights, there was increasing evidence that the variant is already spreading. Cases have been reported in travelers in Belgium, the Isareli-occupied territories and Hong Kong, and Germany also has a probable case. Dutch authorities are checking for the new variant after 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19.
The global health body has named the new variant omicron, labeling it a variant of concern because of its high number of mutations and some early evidence that it carries a higher degree of infection than other variants. That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again. It could take weeks to know if current vaccines are less effective against it.
With so much uncertainty about the omicron variant and scientists unlikely to flesh out their findings for a few weeks, countries around the world have been taking a safety-first approach, in the knowledge that previous outbreaks of the pandemic have been partly fueled by lax border policies.
Nearly two years on since the start of the pandemic that has claimed more than 5 million lives around the world, countries are on high alert.
Dutch authorities have isolated 61 people who tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday. They are carrying out further investigations to see if any of the travelers have the omicron variant.
A German official also said Saturday that there’s a “very high probability” that the omicron variant has already arrived in the country.
A number of pharmaceutical firms, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer, said they have plans in place to adapt their vaccines in light of the emergence of omicron.
World nations gather Monday to thrash out whether to pursue a pandemic treaty setting out how to handle the next crisis -- which experts fear is only a matter of time.
The three-day meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva comes with the planet still besieged by Covid-19, nearly two years on from the first recorded cases.
The economic turmoil and millions of lives lost have triggered calls for new international defenses strong enough to prevent a repeat disaster.
“We will have more pandemics in the future. The question is not if, but when,” Jaouad Mahjour, the WHO assistant director-general for emergency preparedness, told reporters.