Omicron variant: The West finds yet another reason to keep Africans out - Thanks to the Omicron variant, it is harder than ever for Africans to travel – even though public health experts say the restrictions make no sense
Less than 48 hours later, the United Kingdom had banned travel from South Africa and its neighbours, and cancelled flights. The European Union followed suit, as did North America and some Middle Eastern nations. Almost overnight, Southern Africa became a pariah, almost totally isolated from the outside world. Even some African countries have restricted travel from the region.
Yet the travel restrictions against Southern Africa remain in place. No travel restrictions have been implemented against Western countries where Omicron has been detected. Malawi’s president said the bans were “Afrophobia” in action. Botswana’s president called them “unnecessary” and “irresponsible”.
Thierno Balde, the incident manager for the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Emergency Response in Africa, echoed this sentiment. “Travel bans directed at Southern African nations are unfair and we strongly encourage countries to reconsider these bans.” Dr Mounia Amrani, the Southern Africa medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières, said the public health community has known for months that travel bans “are completely ineffective. So what is surprising is to see them used again, particularly when we had so little information about the omicron variant.”
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