The World Health Organization estimates that the Omicron variant presents “a very high risk” globally while regretting Sunday November 28 that several territories, including the European Union, close their borders to travelers from southern Africa.
Rwanda barricades itself
The Rwandan government wanted to take action very quickly against the Omicron variant. President Paul Kagame organized an extraordinary Council of Ministers on Sunday, November 28 to discuss the response to be given to the Omicron variant. As a result, all direct flights to Southern African countries have been temporarily suspended. People arriving in Rwanda from this region by indirect flights or having traveled there recently must respect a quarantine of seven days in hotels designated by the government. This concerns eight countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique.
The goal is, of course, to prevent the arrival of the Omicron variant on Rwandan territory, since for the moment the authorities assure that it has not been detected in the country. It remains to be seen what are the sequencing capacities of the national laboratory for this new variant. Nothing has yet been communicated on this subject. In any case, the authorities are also betting on strengthening general preventive measures and above all, it was announced on Monday, on the launch of a campaign for the third dose of vaccine intended for people over 50 and people suffering from comorbidities. .
Strong measures which are in line with a very strict health policy applied by the Rwandan authorities since the start of the coronavirus crisis. It should be remembered that in March 2020, Rwanda was one of the first African countries to decree total containment of its population followed by nearly a year and a half of strict curfew. Even today, the mask is compulsory in all public spaces. In terms of vaccination, the country is also among the good students of the continent. Almost all of the capital is already vaccinated as about 20% of the population of this small state of 13 million inhabitants. As a result, there are now fewer than twenty new cases detected every day and in all less than 2,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. However, this policy has been very hard on households, informal workers and small Rwandan businesses very affected by the restrictions. In any case, they seem to have been aimed at preserving as much as possible economic sectors important for the country’s growth, such as luxury tourism and the organization of international conferences.
South Africa feels abandoned
Since the discovery by its scientists of the Omicron variant, the world has turned its back on Pretoria. South Africa has been transparent on the subject of this new variant and feels punished. We do not know the origin of the Omicron variant and the crisis it could cause would merit more solidarity, Pretoria believes. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denounces discriminatory and unfair measures. He went one step further on Monday, November 29 at a China-Africa summit by calling for resistance to travel restrictions which he said serve to disadvantage “developing economies”. This echoes the message posted on Facebook from the president of Malawi also affected by the restrictions. Lazarus Chakwera compares these measures to Afrophobia, a phobia of Africa.
Unfortunately for him, African countries are also doing it. Morocco, Angola, Rwanda, Seychelles and Mauritius impose travel restrictions. And that may be the last straw. “It’s unfortunate, unhappy, I would even say sad, indicates unhappy Clayson Monyela, theth spokesperson for the South African Department of International Relations. South Africa has just made a large donation of vaccines to several African countries. And I see in the list of countries which impose restrictions, those who will benefit from them. It doesn’t make any sense and that’s why we think they have to reverse their decision immediately. ” South Africa allows itself to give doses because it has too many. This is the consequence of vaccine hesitation in the country. Only a third of the adult population is vaccinated.
Pretoria recalls that the decisions taken by several countries to close their borders with South Africa ignore science. Same story with the World Health Organization, which advises against these measures. If we look at the data in the country, the vaccination rate is certainly slipping, but it is higher than in many African countries. The cases of contamination are increasing, but it remains low, more than 2,000 contaminations per day compared, for example to France. The hospitals are not saturated, there is no wave of hospitalization, the dangerousness of the variant has not been established. Not to mention that the variant has already escaped southern Africa. From experience in the country we know that the travel restrictions imposed by foreign countries can drag on, as if forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.