By Ebi Kesiena
South Africa’s Health Ministry has attacked a global rush to impose travel bans to slow the spread of a new Covid variant as “draconian,” unscientific and contrary to WHO advice.
The new strain, named Omicron, has been blamed for a surge in cases in South Africa, but has already cropped up in Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel and Botswana.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla told a news conference on Friday that the country believes that some of the reactions have been unjustified, accusing some leaders whom he did not name of seeking a “scapegoat.”
Britain was the first to slap a flight ban from countries in southern Africa, just hours after South Africa revealed it had detected the variant which has multiple mutations.
Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the US among others on Friday joined Britain in restricting flights from the region.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, also proposed a complete suspension of flights to and from southern Africa until there was a “clear understanding about the danger” posed by the new variant.
However, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday urged against travel curbs at this stage.
The agency cautioned that it could take several weeks to find out whether the newly-discovered mutations made the virus more virulent or transmissible.
Phaala said that bans were a wrong approach ‘’it’s misdirected and goes against the norms and advice by the WHO.”
“We feel some of the leaderships of countries are finding scapegoats to deal with what is a worldwide problem,” he said.
However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to President Cyril Ramaphosa in a call earlier, his office said.
A Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement over the weekend.
“They discussed the challenges posed globally by the new Covid-19 variant, and ways to work together to deal with it and reopen international travel.”
“The Prime Minister commended South Africa’s rapid genomic sequencing and leadership in transparently sharing scientific data.”
