NEW: WHO names new Covid strain first identified in southern Africa 'omicron' and calls it a 'variant of concern.'
. If we're detecting those cases with our limited amount of virus sequencing that we're doing around the world, you have to know that this virus is in a number of other countries already," Osterholm said.
But while that might be the case, Osterholm said it was still too soon to say what the impact of the new variant might be. On Friday, shortly after WHO announced it had classified omicron as a variant of concern, the U.S. said it would be restricting travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday.
added six African countries — South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Namibia — to its"red list," In the U.K., Gurdasani said that she was personally in favor of introducing a quarantine mandate to all arrivals, regardless of where they were traveling from, and enforcing Covid testing at the border"until we know" more about the new variant.
After some nations saw a slow response to the delta variant, he said,"we must come to learn how to react better the second and third time."
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
WHO designates new coronavirus variant 'of concern,' naming it OmicronThe US, European Union and other major destinations have moved to block flights from African countries following the discovery of an aggressive mutation of the Covid-19 virus. Follow for the latest news updates.
Read more »
COVID-19 live updates: WHO classifies Omicron as 'a variant of concern'As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 775,000 Americans.
Read more »
WHO Identifies New Covid-19 ‘Variant of Concern’ Omicron as Strain Triggers Global FearsThe World Health Organization said preliminary evidence suggested the strain first detected in southern Africa presented a higher risk of a person catching Covid-19 for a second time.
Read more »