South Africa’s president has condemned travel bans enacted against his country and its neighbours over the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his disappointment with the decision, which he termed as unwarranted, and demanded that the prohibitions be lifted immediately. The United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States are among the countries that have enforced travel bans.
Omicron is considered a “variant of concern.” It appears to have a higher chance of re-infection, according to preliminary findings. The severely modified form was discovered earlier this month in South Africa and notified to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.
The variant is responsible for the majority of illnesses discovered in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province, over the last two weeks, and has now spread to all other provinces. Japan became the latest country to reintroduce tight border controls on Monday, preventing all foreigners from entering the country from November 30.
The WHO has warned against governments imposing travel restrictions quickly, advising them to use a “risk-based and scientific approach.” However, due to worries about the variation, a slew of bans have been imposed in recent days.
“With the Omicron form now discovered in numerous regions of the world, putting in place travel prohibitions that target Africa weakens global solidarity,” WHO Africa head Matshidiso Moeti said on Sunday.
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In his speech on Sunday, Mr Ramaphosa said there was no scientific basis for the travel bans and that southern Africa was the victim of unfair discrimination. He also argued that the bans would not be effective in preventing the spread of the variant.
“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic,” he said. He called on countries with bans in place to “urgently reverse their decisions… before any further damage is done to our economies”.
Mr Ramaphosa described the emergence of the Omicron variant as a wake-up call for the world regarding vaccine inequality – warning that until everyone was vaccinated, more variants were inevitable.
There are no vaccine shortages in South Africa itself, and Mr Ramaphosa urged more people to get jabbed, saying that remained the best way to fight the virus.
A previous statement by the South African foreign ministry on Saturday also strongly criticised the travel bans, saying the country was being punished – instead of applauded – for discovering Omicron.
Omicron has now been detected in a number of countries around the world, including the UK, Germany, Australia and Israel.