South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has criticized travel restrictions imposed on his nation and its neighbors in response to the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
Cyril Ramaphosa, called the move “unjustified,” adding that he was “disappointed” and demanded that the bans be immediately lifted.
Travel bans have been imposed by a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States.
The new Covid-19 variant Omicron has been labeled as a “variant of concern.” According to early findings, it appears to have a higher re-infection risk.
The highly mutated form was discovered in South Africa earlier this month, and it was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.
The outbreak has now spread to all of South Africa’s other provinces, with the variant largely to blame for the infections discovered in Gauteng province over the previous two weeks.
On Monday, Japan became the latest nation to institute strict border controls, prohibiting all nationals from entering the country from November 30th.
The World Health Organization has advised against countries implementing travel restrictions hasty, advising that they take a “risk-based and scientific approach.”
Over the last few days, many restrictions have come into action due to the growing concerns over the variant.
“With the Omicron variant now found in many countries all around the world, implementing travel bans that target Africa demonstrates global solidarity,” according to WHO’s Africa director Matshidiso Moeti.
Calling the travel bans baseless and applied without any scientific reasoning, Mr Ramaphosa called Southern Africa a victim of unfair discrimination.
He added that the measures would be ineffective in stopping the spread of the variant because they do not target all nations or regions where it might be found.
“The only thing the travel ban will achieve is to exacerbate the problem by further damaging the economies of these nations, as well as their capacity to respond and recover from the epidemic,” he added.
A trade ban, he said, “should be avoided at all costs because it is a blunt instrument that does significant harm to businesses and industries in many nations”. He urged nations with bans in place to “promptly reverse their actions… before any additional damage is done to our economies.”
Mr Ramaphosa said the appearance of the Omicron variant was a wake-up call for the globe regarding vaccine inequality, adding that more variations were on the way until everyone was vaccinated.
There are no vaccine shortages in South Africa itself, and Mr Ramaphosa urged more people to get vaccinated because it was still the most effective approach to combat the virus.
The South African foreign ministry’s previous statement on Saturday also strongly criticized the travel bans, noting that the country was being punished for finding Omicron, not rewarded.
Omicron has now been identified in a number of countries across the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Israel.