South Africa President: Omicron Travel Bans Are Discriminatory

Cyril Ramaphosa says they won't stop the spread, must be lifted now
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 29, 2021 2:05 AM CST
South Africa President: Omicron Travel Bans Are Discriminatory
South African President and African National Congress (ANC) President, Cyril Ramaphosa during a ceremony in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021 where the results of the local elections held Monday were announced.   (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)

Travel bans are increasingly being put into place against South Africa amid fears related to the COVID-19 variant newly identified there, and the president of the country is not happy. The bans, which have been implemented in places including the US, Canada, UK, Israel, EU, and Japan, are not backed by science, Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday, and they won't stop the spread of omicron—but they will severely impact the economies of the countries affected. He said southern Africa is being unfairly singled out and that he is "deeply disappointed." He called for the bans to be lifted immediately, the BBC reports. WHO's Africa director agrees: "With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world [including Europe, the UK, Australia, Israel, and Hong Kong], putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity," Matshidiso Moeti said Sunday.

NPR reports that Ramaphosa is correct—there's little scientific evidence showing travel bans are an effective way to control the spread of infectious disease. The bans overall are not very useful, one expert says, and with COVID and this variant in particular, "the horse has probably left the barn" in terms of spread. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports scientists are hustling to determine how effective the current vaccines are against the new variant (early information seems to suggest it's more transmissible and has a higher ability to get around immune responses) as well as how severe an illness the variant causes; a South African doctor has anecdotally reported seeing "very, very mild symptoms" in omicron patients. This is the fastest scientists have mobilized to deal with any variant so far, the paper says. (More omicron variant stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X