Passengers flying to the Netherlands from South Africa were banned from getting off the plane as the continent tightened its borders in an attempt to shut out the strain which scientists have described as the 'worst variant ever'. 'So far what we have seen are very mild cases, so I'm not sure why we are all up in arms.'Įuropean Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had earlier called for an EU-wide travel ban to southern Africa warning that the Omicron strain could be world-dominant in months. 'But for now, it is a storm in a tea cup, we have only become aware of this viral mutation. 'I would understand if it was two weeks later and we knew much more about this viral infection that is going around, this mutation. 'It's a hasty decision,' she told the BBC. However, Angelique Coetzee, the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association, said that it was too early to begin imposing travel restrictions. Boris Johnson spoke to South African president Cyril Ramaphosa tonight to discuss the situation. In Britain, arrivals from six countries were added to the quarantine red list from noon - but fears were raised over a lack of checks on arrivals beforehand. Experts said there is early evidence to suggest Omicron has an 'increased risk of reinfection' and its rapid spread in South Africa suggests it has a 'growth advantage'. It came as the WHO today designated it a 'variant of concern', its highest category. The Belgian health ministry said a case of the new B.1.1.529 strain was confirmed in an unvaccinated young woman who had returned from Egypt 11 days ago, suggesting it is already being seeded across the continent and is widespread in Africa. South African medics moved to calm a wave of panic over a new ultra-infectious and vaccine resistant Covid strain today as its arrival in Europe sparked fears of a new Christmas shutdown.īelgium revealed a case of the Botswana variant - named 'Omicron' by the World Health Organization tonight - prompting EU chiefs to call for an 'emergency brake' on all travel from southern Africa after it was also found in Israel. Pfizer/BioNTech, which has produced a vaccine against Covid-19, is already studying the new variant's ability to evade vaccines. Professor James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute in Oxford, has said the new variant will 'almost certainly' make vaccines less effective, though they would still offer protection. Work is also under way to see whether the new variant may be causing new infection in people who have already had coronavirus or a vaccine, or whether waning immunity may be playing a role. Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told Good Morning Britain on Friday that sequencing is being carried out around the UK to determine if any cases have already been imported. On Friday, it was confirmed that cases had been identified in Israel and Belgium but currently there are no known cases in the UK. UK scientists first became aware of the new strain on November 23 after samples were uploaded on to a coronavirus variant tracking website from South Africa, Hong Kong and then Botswana. The mutations contain features seen in all of the other variants but also traits that have not been seen before. Scientists have said they are concerned about the B.1.1.529 variant, named by the World Health Organisation as Omicron, as it has around 30 different mutations - double the amount present in the Delta variant.
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