Australia restricts travelers from 9 African countries by omicron variant

Australia announced this Saturday that it will restrict entry into its territory to travelers who have visited in the last two weeks nine African countries where the new omicron variant of covid-19 is suspected of circulating, considered risky by the World Health Organization (WHO ).

The Ministry of Health indicated in a statement that the measure, effective immediately, supposes the prohibition of entry into the country for non-Australian travelers or residents who have visited South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana in the last 14 days. , Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique or the Seychelles Islands.

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“If the medical tests show that more action is needed, we will not hesitate to take it. And that could mean tightening or expanding the restrictions, ”Health Minister Greg Hunt told the media.

All travelers who are already on Australian soil and have visited any of those countries in the last two weeks must isolate themselves and undergo COVID-19 testing.

The group of experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) met on Friday to analyze the impact of the new variant of the coronavirus detected in South Africa determined that it is a “risk variant”, possibly more contagious, and baptized it with the Greek letter omicrón.

The WHO acknowledges that some of the new mutations of the omicron variant seem to suggest an even greater transmission capacity than previous strains, with cases detected “in almost all South African provinces.”

They did not indicate for now if the new variant is more or less resistant to anticovid vaccines, but they did point out that diagnostic tests of the disease with PCR seem to continue to be valid to detect it.

The varying omicron worries experts due to the high number of mutations it presents, since in just two weeks around thirty have been detected, with confirmed cases in South Africa, Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium.

Australia took this step after relaxing its border restrictions this month by allowing vaccinated residents to return to the country without the need for quarantine.

The oceanic country accumulates more than 205,000 infections by covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, including 1,985 deaths so far.

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