EU calls for flight ban as health officials hold urgent meeting over new variant in southern Africa.
Image source, Getty Images
Countries around the world are taking steps to tighten travel restrictions after a new coronavirus variant was identified in southern Africa.
The European Commission has recommended that EU countries introduce an “emergency brake” on all travel from the region in response.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting to discuss the new variant.
Scientists still have much to learn about the virus’s new mutations, but say they are very worried about it.
The WHO has said it will take a few weeks to understand the impact of the new variant, as experts work to determine how transmissible it is.
The variant is very different to the others that have emerged so far. Scientists have said it is the most heavily mutated version yet, which means Covid vaccines, which were designed using the original strain from Wuhan, may not be as effective.
The new variant is yet to be given a more memorable name, like Delta or Beta, and right now is known as B.1.1.529. The WHO is expected to name it on Friday, and announce whether it is a variant of concern or just a variant of interest.
Stock markets across the world fall sharply on Friday, amid investor fears over the potential economic impact.
In London, the FTSE 100 share index dropped by nearly 3%, while markets in Germany and France also declined following falls in Asia.
The WHO says so far fewer than 100 sample sequences have been reported. Cases have mainly been confirmed in South Africa, but have also been detected in Hong Kong, Israel, Botswana and Belgium.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Friday that the variant is “highly likely” to have spread to other countries.
Most of the cases in South Africa have been from its most populated province, Gauteng, of which Johannesburg is the capital city.
Only about 24% of South Africa’s population is fully vaccinated, which could spur a rapid spread of cases there, Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), told the BBC on Friday.
In Hong Kong, the infections were found in a person who had arrived from South Africa, and a guest in the same quarantine hotel who tested positive a few days later, the Department of Health revealed. Both were fully vaccinated.
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday it is “on the verge of a state of emergency” regarding the new variant, and that he would “act fast, strong and now”.
One case was detected in a person who returned from Malawi, according to Israeli media reports quoting the country’s health ministry. Another two suspected infections were yet to be confirmed with test results. All three are said to have been fully vaccinated.
The WHO has warned against countries hastily imposing travel restrictions, saying they should look to a “risk-based and scientific approach.”
Nevertheless, an increasing number of nations including the UK and the Netherlands have temporarily halted flights from these southern African nations:
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Namibia
- Zimbabwe
- Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
- Lesotho
The Head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for all EU nations to put on the “emergency brake” and stop flights from the region.
“It is now important that all of us in Europe act very swiftly, decisively and united,” she said on Friday.
The EU is already struggling to cope with fresh waves of the virus, and several countries have re-imposed lockdowns and restrictions.
Singapore, Italy, France and Israel are among those who have also placed Mozambique on their red lists.
The Czech Republic will ban anyone who has spent more than 12 hours in those nations and also Zambia from entering as of Saturday.
Japan has announced that from Saturday, travellers from southern Africa will need to quarantine for 10 days and take a total of four tests during that time.
“The key to crisis management is to prepare for the worst,” the Japan Times newspaper quoted chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno as saying.
Germany, which is currently going through a fourth wave of infections because of the Delta variant, will allow only Germans to fly into Germany from South Africa as of Friday night. The head of the country’s RKI public health institute, Lothar Wieler, said he was very worried about the new variant.
Meanwhile, the German air force on Friday began airlifting patients within the country for the first time during the pandemic, flying people from Bavaria to Münster-Osnabrück in the west, where there are more intensive care beds free.
India has ordered more rigorous screening and testing for travellers arriving from South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong, local media is reporting.
The flight bans threaten to separate families over the festive season.
Ruth Daines-Slack, 70, had booked to fly from Cape Town to the UK next week for Christmas and her mother’s 100th birthday celebration. She told the BBC she is “beyond devastated” that she will no longer be able to make the trip, adding that the UK’s travel ban is a “knee-jerk reaction”.
The UK was one of the first nations to impose a flight ban, which South Africa’s foreign ministry has criticised as a “rushed decision” made before the WHO has made any announcement on the variant.
