Travel bans not a solution to stop new Covid-19 variant Omicron: Scientists

There is global concern and widespread alarm at the discovery of SARSCoV2 variant B11529 which the World Health Organization WHO has called OmicronThe WHO has classified Omicron as a variant of concern because it has a wide range of mutations This suggests vaccines and treatments could be less effectiveAlthough early days Omicron appears to be able to reinfect people more easily than other strainsAustralia has followed other countries and regions including the United States Canada United Kingdom and the European Union and banned travellers from nine southern African countriesAustralians seeking to return home from southern Africa will still be able to do so But they will have to enter hotel quarantine and be tested as will those who have returned from the nine stipulated countries South Africa Namibia Zimbabwe Botswana Lesotho Eswatini the Seychelles Malawi and Mozambique in the past 14 daysBut Omicron has already been detected in other regions including the UK Germany Israel Hong Kong and Belgium So while a travel ban on southern African countries may slow the spread and buy limited time its unlikely to stop itAs the Australian government and others act to protect their own citizens this should be accompanied by additional resources to support countries in southern Africa and elsewhere that take prompt actionWhen was Omicron detectedThe variant was identified on November 22 in South Africa from a sample collected from a patient on November 9South African virologists took prompt action conferred with colleagues through the Network of Genomic Surveillance in South Africa liaised with government and notified the World Health Organization on November 24This is in keeping with the International Health Regulations that guide how countries should respondThe behaviour of this new variant is still unclear Some have claimed the rate of growth of Omicron infections which reflects its transmissibility may be even higher than those of the Delta variant This growth advantage is yet to be proven but is concerningKneejerk response vs WHO recommendationsAfrican scientists and politicians have been disappointed in what they see as a kneejerk response from countries imposing travel bansThey argue the ban will have significant negative effects for the South African economy which traditionally welcomes global tourists over the summer yearend periodThey note it is still unclear whether the new variant originated in South Africa even if it was first identified thereAs Omicron has already been detected in several other countries it may already be circulating in regions not included in the travel banTravel bans on countries detecting new variants and the subsequent economic costs may also act as a disincentive for countries to reveal variants of concern in futureThe WHO does not generally recommend flight bans or other forms of travel embargoes Instead it argues interventions of proven value should be prioritised vaccination hand hygiene physical distancing wellfitted masks and good ventilationIn response to variants of concern the WHO calls on all countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing report initial cases or clusters and undertake investigations to improve understanding of the variants behaviourOmicron must be taken seriously Its features are worrying but there are large gaps in our current knowledge While further analyses are undertaken the variant should be controlled with testing tracing isolation applying known public health measures and ongoing surveillanceWhat can wealthier countries do to helpWealthy countries such as Australia should support African nations and others to share early alerts of potentially serious communicable disease threats and help mitigate these threatsThe panel recommended creating incentives to reward early response action This could include support to Establish research and educational partnerships Strengthen health systems and communicable disease surveillance Greatly improve vaccine availability distribution and equity Consider financial compensation through some form of solidarity fund against pandemic riskBoosting vaccine coverage is keyVaccines remain the mainstay of protection against the most severe effects of Covid19Its unclear how effective vaccines will be against Omicron but some degree of protection is presumed likely Pfizer has also indicated it could develop an effective vaccine against a new variant such as Omicron within 100 days or soCovids persistence is partly attributable to patchy immunisation coverage across many parts of the world notably those least developed South Africa itself is better off than most countries on the continent yet only 2437 of the adult population are currently fully vaccinated For the whole of Africa this drops to only 7237Greater global support is urgently needed to boost these vaccination ratesAfrican institutions and leaders supported by global health and vaccine experts have argued for mRNA vaccine manufacturing facilities on the African continent These would prioritise regional populations overcome supplychain problems and respond in real time to emerging disease threatsYet developing nations face significant barriers to obtaining intellectual property around Covid19 vaccine development and productionWhile there is still much to learn about the behaviour and impact of Omicron the global community must demonstrate and commit real support to countries that do the right thing by promptly and transparently sharing informationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever