Brussels, Nov. 26 (BNA): The discovery of a new type of coronavirus led to a chill in many parts of the world on Friday as countries raced to halt air travel, markets fell sharply and scientists held emergency meetings to assess the exact risks, which were largely unknown.
The WHO panel called the variant “omicron” and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the delta variant.
The World Health Organization has indicated that this variant could pose greater risks than Delta, the world’s most prevalent variant that has fueled relentless waves of infection on every continent, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The World Health Organization said early evidence indicates an increased risk of reinfection compared to other highly contagious variants. This means that people who have had COVID-19 and recover may have it again.
In response, the United States and Canada joined the European Union and several other countries in imposing travel restrictions on visitors from South Africa.
The White House said the United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region starting Monday.
She gave no details other than saying the restrictions would not apply to returning US citizens or permanent residents, who would still be required to test negative before they travel.
Medical experts, including the World Health Organization, warned against any overreaction before the form that originated in South Africa was better understood.
But the tense world feared the worst, nearly two years after COVID-19 emerged and triggered a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people worldwide.
“We must act quickly and as soon as possible,” British Health Minister Sajid Javid told lawmakers.
There was no immediate indication as to whether the variant was causing more serious disease. As with other variants, some of those infected do not show any symptoms, South African experts said. The WHO commission derived from the Greek alphabet in naming the variant omicron, as it did for previous major variants of the virus.
Although some of the genetic changes seem worrisome, it was not clear whether the new variant would pose a significant public health threat. Some of the earlier variants, such as the beta variant, were initially relevant to scientists but did not become very popular.
The 27-nation European Union imposed a temporary ban on air travel from South Africa, and stocks fell in Asia, Europe and the United States.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,000 points. The S&P 500 fell 2.3%, on its way to its worst day since February. The price of oil fell nearly 12%.
“The last thing we need is to introduce a new species that will cause more problems,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said. The member states of the European Union have seen an exponential rise in cases recently.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said flights would have to be “suspended until we have a clear understanding of the risk this new alternative poses, and travelers returning from this region must respect the strict quarantine rules”.
She insisted on being very careful, warning that “mutations could lead to the emergence and spread of more worrying variants of the virus which could spread around the world within a few months.”
Belgium became the first country in the European Union to report a case of the type.
“It’s kind of fishy,” Health Minister Frank Vandenbroek said. “We don’t know if it’s a very dangerous species.”
It has not yet been detected in the United States, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s chief infectious disease expert. Abroad, the variant “appears to be spreading at a reasonably fast rate,” he told CNN. And while it may be more transmissible and vaccine-resistant than other variants, “we don’t know that for sure right now.”
Explaining the complexity of the spread of one of the variants, Professor Marc van Ranst explains that the Belgian case concerns a traveler who returned to Belgium from Egypt on November 11, but did not fall ill with mild symptoms until Monday, according to Professor Marc Van Ranst, who works at the scientific center. She oversees the Belgian government’s response to COVID-19.
Israel, one of the world’s most vaccinated countries, announced on Friday that it had also detected its first case of the new variant in a traveler who had returned from Malawi.
The traveler and two suspected cases were placed in isolation. Israel said all three had been vaccinated, but officials are looking into the travelers’ exact vaccination status.
After a 10-hour overnight flight, passengers on KLM Flight 598 from Cape Town, South Africa, to Amsterdam were held on the edge of the runway Friday morning at Schiphol Airport for four hours awaiting special tests.
Passengers of a flight from Johannesburg have also been isolated and tested.
“It’s ridiculous,” said passenger Francesca de Medici, a Rome-based technical advisor who was on the plane. If we hadn’t spotted the fearsome insect before, we’d notice it now.
The emergence of the variant, some experts said, made clear how wealthy nations stockpiling vaccines threatens to prolong the epidemic.
Less than 6% of people in Africa have been fully immunized against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and at-risk populations still have not received a single dose.
These conditions can accelerate the spread of the virus, providing more opportunities for it to develop into a dangerous variant.
“This is one consequence of the inequity in the rollout of vaccines, and why the scrapping of surplus vaccines by wealthier nations will inevitably rebound on all of us at some point,” said Michael Head, senior researcher in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. .
He urged G20 leaders to “go beyond vague promises and actually honor their dose-sharing commitments.”
The new variable added to investor concern that months of progress in containing COVID-19 could be reversed.
“Investors are likely to shoot first and ask questions later until more is known,” said Jeffrey Haley of forex trading firm Oanda.
In a sign of how worried Wall Street is, a measure of so-called fear in the market known as VIX jumped 48% to 26.91.
This is the highest volatility index reading since January, before vaccines were widely distributed.
Speaking ahead of the EU’s announcement, Dr Michael Ryan, head of the emergency department at the World Health Organization, warned of “sudden responses”.
“We’ve seen in the past, the moment there’s any mention of any kind of difference and everyone closes borders and restricts travel,” Ryan said. “It’s really important that we stay open and stay focused.”
The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved and strongly discourages any travel ban on countries that have reported the new alternative.
She said past experience shows that this travel ban “has not produced a meaningful result”.
However, the United States announced restrictions on visitors from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi, hours after governments took similar steps.
The United Kingdom banned flights from South Africa and five other South African countries at noon on Friday and announced that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be required to take a coronavirus test.
Canada has banned entry to all foreigners who have traveled to South Africa in the past two weeks.
The Japanese government has announced that Japanese nationals traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho will have to quarantine in government designated accommodations for 10 days and take three tests for COVID-19 during that time.
Japan has not yet opened up to foreign nationals.
Fauci said US public health officials held talks Friday with their South African colleagues. “We want to find out for a world what exactly is going on.”
The World Health Organization’s technical working group said coronavirus infections jumped 11% last week in Europe, the only region in the world where the coronavirus continues to rise.
WHO Director of Europe Dr Hans Kluge has warned that without urgent measures, the continent could see an additional 700,000 deaths by spring.
NS