New Omicron variant sparks global concern

Australia and several other countries imposed limits on travel from southern Africa on Saturday after the discovery of the new Omicron coronaviruses variant sparked global concern and caused a sell-off on financial markets.

Britain said on Saturday it had detected two cases and authorities in Germany and the Czech Republic also said they had suspected cases, indicating that such curbs may not stem the spread of the variant.

Omicron, a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, may be more contagious than previous variants of the disease, although experts don't know yet if it will cause more or less severe COVID - 19 compared to other coronaviruses strains.

The variant was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

Dutch authorities said that 61 out of around 600 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday had tested positive for the coronaviruses. The health authorities were carrying out further tests to see if those cases involved the new variant.

One passenger who arrived from South Africa on Friday, Dutch photographer Paula Zimmerman, said she tested negative but was anxious for the days to come, having spent hours on a flight likely to have many infected passengers.

I have been told that they expect that a lot of people will test positive after five days. She said it's a little scary to think that you've been in a plane with a lot of people who tested positive.

Financial markets plunged on Friday, especially the stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, because investors worried that the variant could cause another surge in the pandemic and stall a global recovery. Oil prices fell by about $10 a barrel.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.5%, its worst day since October 2020, and European stocks had their worst day in 17 months.

It may take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it. Omicron is the fifth variant of concern designated by the WHO.

Travel curbs may be too late to stop Omicron from circulating worldwide, but many countries around the world - including the United States, Brazil, Canada and European Union nations - have announced travel bans or restrictions on southern Africa on Friday.

On Saturday, Australia said it would ban non-citizens who have been in nine southern African countries from entering and require 14-day quarantines for Australian citizens and their dependents returning from there.

After imposing restrictions on travel from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho on Friday, Japan said it would extend its border controls to three more African countries.

South Africa is worried that the curbs will hurt tourism and other sectors of its economy, according to the foreign ministry on Saturday, and that it is engaging with countries that have imposed travel bans to persuade them to reconsider.

The two linked cases of the new Omicron coronaviruses detected in Britain were linked to travel to southern Africa, health minister Sajid Javid said.

Britain is expanding its red list to put travel restrictions on more southern African countries, while South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Oman and Hungary have announced travel restrictions on southern African nations.

A minister in Hesse state said on Saturday that the variant had arrived very likely in Germany, in a traveller returning from South Africa. Czech health authorities said they were looking into a suspected case of the variant in a person who spent time in Namibia.

As many countries in Europe are battling a surge in COVID 19 infections, omicron has emerged, and some have reintroduced restrictions on social activity to try to stop the spread. Austria and Slovakia have entered lock-downs.

The new variant has also spotlighted disparities in how far the world's population is vaccinated. While many developed countries are giving third-dose boosters, less than 7% of people in low-income countries have received their first COVID 19 shot, according to medical and human rights groups.

Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance who co-leads the COVAX initiative to push for equitable distribution of vaccines, said this was essential to ward off the emergence of more coronaviruses variants.

While we still need to know more about Omicron, we do know that as long as large parts of the world's population are unvaccinated, variants will continue to appear and the pandemic will continue to be prolonged, he said in a statement to Reuters.

We will only prevent variants from emerging if we are able to protect all of the world's population, not just the wealthy parts.