(London) The first positive cases for the new variant of the coronavirus Omicron surged on Saturday in Europe, where concern is pushing travel restrictions as the world continues to isolate southern Africa.
After Belgium, Great Britain, Germany and Italy, the Czech Republic has announced a first case in a COVID-19 patient hospitalized with mild symptoms in Liberec (north).
She was vaccinated and had traveled to Namibia, before returning to the Czech Republic via South Africa and Dubai, according to the head of government.
In Amsterdam, about sixty passengers, disembarked Friday from Johannesburg and Cape Town, were still in quarantine near the airport. “The Omicron variant was probably found among those tested,” said the National Institute of Public Health (RIVM), pending final results expected on Sunday.
The first to suspend flights from South Africa, the British government has announced a tightening of entry rules for arrivals from all origins: mandatory PCR testing and isolation until the result, alongside the return of the compulsory mask in all shops.
Switzerland also announced that people from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Egypt and Malawi must present, upon boarding and entering Switzerland, a COVID-19 test. negative and quarantine for 10 days.
This was already the case since Friday evening for people from several countries in southern Africa, Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.
Any person “contact” of another, tested positive for the new variant will have to be isolated even if it is vaccinated, for its part announced Saturday evening the French ministry of Health.
Earlier on Saturday, the British Department of Health announced that it had identified “two cases of COVID-19 comprising mutations compatible with B.1.1529”, specifying that these “two British cases of the Omicron variant” were linked and had been identified after ” a trip to southern Africa ”, where Omicron was first identified this week.
The announcements followed one another: two confirmed cases in Germany in travelers arriving from South Africa at Munich airport (south), another suspected in a traveler arriving at Frankfurt airport (central Germany) , a first case in Italy in a man from the Naples region (south) who returned from Mozambique …
The day before and the day before, cases had been reported in Hong Kong, in Israel on a person returning from Malawi and in Botswana, as well as on twenty people in South Africa, scientifically advanced country and first to give the ‘alert.
PHOTO JEROME DELAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A man lines up in Johannesburg to be tested for COVID-19.
The new variant has been classified as “of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has, however, advised against travel restrictions and estimates that it will take “several weeks” to understand the virulence of the new variant.
Since the end of 2019, COVID-19 has killed at least 5.18 million people worldwide, according to an AFP count.
The European Union health agency reinforced the concern by stressing that this new variant B.1.1529 represented a “high to very high” risk for Europe.
According to the WHO expert group, preliminary data on this variant suggests that it presents “an increased risk of reinfection” compared to other variants, including Delta, which is currently dominant and already highly contagious.
South Africa “punished”
On all continents, countries have closed to southern Africa, including its main air hub of Johannesburg where it was the rat race Friday and Saturday to catch a return flight.
Travel restrictions, besides South Africa, apply to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and in some cases Malawi.
South Africa is “punished” for having detected the Omnicron variant, denounced Saturday the government of Pretoria, denouncing a phenomenon of “panic” and unjustified “draconian” measures.
“Some leaders are looking for scapegoats to solve a problem that is global,” South African Minister of Health Joe Phaahla denounced Friday, whose country derives significant income from tourism.
US President Joe Biden has echoed WHO’s repeated calls to help poor countries get vaccinated to prevent the emergence of new variants.
“The information on this new variant should make it more obvious than ever that this pandemic will not end without vaccinations at the global level,” he said in a statement Friday evening.
In the wake of several European countries, the United States has also banned entry to travelers from southern Africa, except US nationals and permanent residents.
Canada, Brazil and several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia have also adopted bans.
In Asia, restrictions also apply in Japan, South Korea, and soon in Thailand.
Outbreak in Europe
The appearance of the Omicron variant comes at a time when Europe is already facing an epidemic outbreak to which it is responding with a return to health restrictions, not always well accepted.
The Netherlands, the scene of riots last weekend, announced Friday the closure from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. GMT of non-essential bars, restaurants and shops.
The new variant also raised fears for the global economic recovery, pushing down the price of oil. The Paris stock exchange experienced its worst session on Friday since March 2020 and London since June 2020.
Almost 54% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but only 5.6% in low-income countries, according to the Our World in Data site. In South Africa, the most affected country on the continent, only 23.8% of the inhabitants are fully vaccinated.