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 Despite shutting its borders to travel from high-risk southern
African countries, Australia became the latest country to report
community transmission of the new variant, a day after it was found
in five U.S. states.
Omicron has gained a foothold in Asia, Africa, the Americas, the
Middle East and Europe and has reached seven of the nine provinces
of South Africa, where it was first identified. Many governments
have tightened travel rules to keep the variant out.
"Border controls can buy time but every country and every community
must prepare for new surges in cases," Takeshi Kasai, the WHO's
western Pacific director, told a media briefing.
"People should not only rely on border measures. What is most
important is to prepare for these variants with potential high
transmissibility. So far the information available suggests we don't
have to change our approach."
Kasai urged countries to fully vaccinate vulnerable groups and stick
to preventive measures such as mask wearing and social distancing.
Omicron has been listed as a "variant of concern" by the WHO and
scientists are still gathering data to establish how severe and
contagious it is just as parts of Europe have been hit by surges of
winter infections by the more familiar Delta variant.
Michelle Groome, a scientist with South Africa’s National Institute
for Communicable Diseases, said the country was facing an
unprecedented rise in infections due to Omicron.
Almost 264 million people have been reported to be infected by the
coronavirus since it was first detected in central China in late
2019 and 5.48 million people have died, according to a Reuters
tally.
'SCIENCE AND SPEED'
Vaccination rates vary from country to country but there are
worrying gaps in poorer countries. Indonesia, the world's fourth
most populous country and once Asia's COVID-19 epicentre, has fully
inoculated only about 35% of its population.
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Australia's chief medical
officer, Paul Kelly, said Omicron was likely to
become the dominant variant globally within
months, but at this stage there was no evidence
it was any more dangerous than Delta.
In the United States, the Biden administration
announced measures to guard against the virus
spreading. From Monday, international air
travellers arriving in the United States will
have to have obtained a negative COVID-19 test
within a day of travel.
"We're going to fight this variant with science
and speed, not chaos and confusion," President
Joe Biden said.
Fewer than 60% of the U.S. population have been
fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among
wealthy nations.
Global travel curbs have accelerated with Hong
Kong, the Netherlands, Norway and Russia, among
others, announcing new measures on Thursday.
Aside from wreaking havoc in the travel
industry, the clampdown has pounded financial
markets and undermined major economies just as
they were beginning to recover from the
lockdowns triggered by Delta.
Germany said it would bar the unvaccinated from
all but essential businesses, and legislation to
make vaccination mandatory would be drafted for
early next year.
Several countries, including Britain and the
United States, were bringing forward plans to
offer booster shots, but, like travel bans, they
are controversial.
Many scientists say the way to stop the virus
spreading is to make sure poorer countries have
access to vaccines, not to give blanket booster
shots to people in richer countries.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by
Stephen Coates and Nick Macfie; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore and Angus MacSwan)
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