The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned of the “toxic” combination of low vaccination rates and screening for COVID-19, in the face of the threat of the new Omicron variant which continues to spread throughout the world. world and forcing more and more countries to revert to restrictive measures.
At the same time, symbolic announcement, was revealed a first case of this variant in the United States, which has nearly 800,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
The person, who was returning from South Africa, tested positive in California, health officials said. The patient was “fully vaccinated with mild symptoms”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, has further dented the taboo which reigned until recently on compulsory vaccination by considering that a discussion “should take place” on this subject in the Member States of the EU. “This is a discussion that I think needs to be conducted,” said Mme von der Leyen, during a press conference.
In the Union, compulsory vaccination is already planned in Austria and envisaged by Germany. Other countries are thinking about it around the world, South Africa in particular, but resistance is strong.
Because for the time being, underlined in Geneva the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the insufficient vaccine coverage against COVID-19 and that of the level of screening constitute a “toxic” mixture.
” Matter of choice “
It is “a perfect recipe for variants to reproduce and amplify”, he warned, stressing that the end of the pandemic is “a matter of choice”.
Even in Portugal, a model student of Europe for the vaccination rate (85%), the population must again from Wednesday wear the mask in closed places and present a health passport. A new vaccination campaign has also been started. “The authorities recommend it, so I came, without even making an appointment”, testified José Barreto, a former teacher of 71 years, saying to face the pandemic “with a lot of rationality”, “without giving in to panic “.
Germany is preparing for its part to decide on additional restrictions on Thursday, including possible closures of bars and other public places.
In South Africa, where the identification of the Omicron variant was announced last week, but where less than a quarter of the inhabitants are vaccinated, the health authorities described in Parliament an “exponential” spread of the virus. The new variant, clearly very contagious, is already dominant.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, rose up on Wednesday against the “scandal” of a condemnation of Africa for not being sufficiently vaccinated.
“Viruses without borders”
“With a truly borderless virus, the travel restrictions that isolate a country or region are not only deeply unfair and punitive, they are ineffective,” he said during a press briefing.
Denmark, which like other countries in Europe is facing a strong epidemic rebound and recorded the record number of more than 4,500 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, has nevertheless decided to now introduce a mandatory test for travelers from from Doha and Dubai, after the detection of a case of the new variant in a traveler returning from Qatar.
In the United States, stricter test conditions for travelers on arrival, and even the establishment of a quarantine, are under consideration, according to health officials. These measures could be officially announced Thursday by US President Joe Biden.
Faced with the “threat to economic recovery”, which Omicron represents, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also said on Wednesday that the priority remained to “ensure that vaccines are produced and distributed as much as possible. quickly possible across the world ”.
The developed countries of the G20 have spent 10,000 billion dollars to protect their economy during the crisis, while vaccinating the planet would only cost 50 billion, lamented Laurence Boone, the chief economist of the OECD.
The new strain has been spotted on all continents, but Europe, already facing a strong rebound in the epidemic before its appearance, seems the most affected: after many other countries, Norway announced its first four cases on Wednesday , all on returnees from South Africa.
The States of the Old Continent are therefore once again tightening health restrictions: border controls, ban on travel to southern Africa, compulsory mask in transport and shops in the United Kingdom, recommendation to vaccinate vulnerable children in France, etc.
In Asia, Japan, now closed to foreigners, has identified two cases of Omicron contamination and on Wednesday asked airlines to suspend new bookings to its territory for a month. South Korea has announced its first five cases and also tightened its travel restrictions.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, also recorded its first three cases, people returning from South Africa, just like the first three cases spotted in Brazil.
A first case was also reported in Saudi Arabia – the first in the Gulf – in a Saudi returning from North Africa.
Various manufacturers, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax, have expressed confidence in their ability to create a new vaccine against Omicron. Russia has also announced that it is working on a version of its “Sputnik V” specifically targeting this variant.
Never has a variant of COVID-19 caused so much concern since the emergence of Delta, which is currently dominant and already highly contagious. The WHO considers “high” the “probability that Omicron spreads globally”, even if many unknowns remain: contagiousness, effectiveness of existing vaccines, severity of symptoms.
Reassuringly, to date, no deaths associated with Omicron have been reported. COVID-19 has killed at least 5,214,847 worldwide since its appearance in late 2019 in China, according to an AFP count on Wednesday.