UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres has described the widespread travel bans being imposed on southern African countries over the Omicron variant as “unacceptable”, likening the restrictions to apartheid.
“When we have now this virus everywhere, what is unacceptable is to have one part of the world that is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world economy condemned to a lockout, when they were the ones that revealed the existence of a new variant that, by the way, already existed in other parts of the world, including in Europe, as we know,” Guterres said during a news briefing.
“We have the instruments to have safe travel. Let’s use those instruments to avoid this kind of, allow me to say, travel apartheid, which I think is unacceptable,” Guterres added.
The Omicron variant was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on 25 November 2021. The first confirmed Omicron infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.
Dozens of countries have imposed travel restrictions on the southern African nations since the mutation was discovered.
The new Omicron coronavirus variant has been confirmed in 23 countries and their number is expected to rise, Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said.
Sources: MSN, IOL
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