Ómicron: new “variant of concern” of the coronavirus spreads and the world isolates southern Africa

USA, Brazil and countries from all regions of the world announced on Friday the closure of their borders to travelers from southern Africa, after the detection of a new variant of coronavirus covid-19 potentially very contagious called omicron.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus, which it named omicron, is a “worrisome” variant like the currently dominant delta and those previously detected alpha, beta and gamma.

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The new mutation, first reported by South Africa on November 24, has already been identified in Europe, with a confirmed case on Friday in Belgium, after being reported in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.

From equities to oil, world markets tumbled on the omicron news, amid fears of a major blow to the global economic recovery.

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The American President, Joe Biden, I affirm that the new variant should encourage the rest of the world to donate more vaccines to the poorest nations, noting that the United States “has already donated more vaccines to other countries than all other countries combined” and “it is time” to match their “generosity.”

“This pandemic will not end until we have a global vaccination”he warned in a statement from Nantucket, where he spends the Thanksgiving break.

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Biden also called on countries to waive intellectual property protections to allow the manufacture of vaccines around the world.

“Panic reaction”

Belgium announced on Friday the first publicly known case of omicron in Europe: an unvaccinated person who returned on November 11 from Egypt via Turkey.

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The WHO He said it could take several weeks to determine whether the new variant entails changes in the transmissibility or severity of COVID-19, as well as in the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, and warned against imposing restrictions on COVID-19. travel while scientific evidence is scant.

But many countries have already announced border closures, generally for travelers arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (or Swaziland), Mozambique and Malawi.

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In the Americas, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Guatemala were the last to restrict travel from there.

The European Union (EU) also recommended that the 27 nations of the bloc prevent the entry of people from southern AfricaIn addition to the fact that many members, such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, had already announced flight suspensions.

The first country to shield itself was the United Kingdom, and others followed in its footsteps, including Russia, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus. In addition, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco announced bans.

SIGHT: Europe goes on alert and suspends flights from southern Africa

Japan said it will require a 10-day quarantine period for travelers from southern Africa. And Australia on Saturday signaled a ban on flights from nine African countries and a ban on non-Australian passengers who have recently been to that area.

South Africa called the bans “draconian”. “That kind of reaction is instinctive and panicky,” said Health Minister Joe Phaahla.

It is a hard blow for the country since the restrictive measures arrive just before the austral summer, when safaris and beaches tend to attract a good number of visitors.

“Red Friday”

Omicron caused Wall Street to crash on Friday. The benchmark Dow Jones index had its worst loss of the year: a 2.53% drop since the close of Wednesday, before the Thanksgiving holiday. The S&P 500 fell 2.27%, while the Nasdaq index was down 2.23%.

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The European indices suffered their worst sessions in more than a year: Paris fell 4.75%, London 3.64%, Frankfurt 4.15% and Madrid 4.96%.

The fall also affected Asian and Latin American stock markets, and oil prices, which lost more than 10%.

In Chicago, prices of wheat and soybeans fell significantly.

“Today is Black Friday for retail sales, but now is ‘Red Friday’ for the stock market”, summarized the analyst Patrick O’Hare, alluding to the traditional discount day in the United States after Thanksgiving.

German biotech firm BioNTech and US drugmaker Pfizer reported that they were studying the new variant, with impact data expected “in two weeks at the latest” to say whether their jointly developed vaccine should be adjusted if omicron spreads globally.

The American laboratory Moderna announced for its part that it will develop a specific reinforcement for omicron.

The coronavirus has left more than 5.18 million deaths worldwide since its appearance in China at the end of 2019, although the WHO estimates that the real figures could be much higher.

About 54% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of the anticovid vaccine, but in low-income countries, this proportion is only 5.6%, according to the Our World in Data portal.

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