Omicron Covid Variant: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres introduces a travel ban.
United Nation:
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday stressed that travel bans targeting specific countries and regions imposed on the new variant of Covid-19 were “unfair” and “ineffective”. “.
“With a virus that truly knows no borders, travel restrictions that isolate any country or region are not only unfair and deeply punitive – they are not,” Mr. Guterres said at a news conference. effective,” Guterres said at a news conference, calling instead for increased testing for travelers.
Dozens of countries have imposed restrictions on travel from southern African countries after the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was first reported in the region last week.
Mr. Guterres said countries that have reported the emergence of a new strain of the virus should not be “collectively punished for identifying and sharing important health and science information with the world.”
He reiterated his call for governments to implement enhanced testing measures for travellers, “along with other really effective and appropriate measures.”
“This is the only way to reduce the risk of transmission while allowing travel and economic participation.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined the overall risk from Omicron as “very high” – but the WHO regional director for Africa has also spoken out against banning travelers from the continent, saying it “attacking global solidarity.”
Officials in South Africa say they are being punished for identifying a strain of the virus that has now been detected everywhere from the Netherlands to Britain, Canada and Hong Kong, while Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera reported forced Western countries to be “Afrophobia”.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
