“World Health”: The new mutation is “worrying”... and the world is isolating South Africa

The World Health Organization has classified the new mutant Friday of Covid-19, which was first detected in South Africa, as "alarming" and has named it "Omicron".

The group of experts in charge of monitoring the evolution of the pandemic said that “the World Health Organization (WHO) was first notified of mutant B.1.1.529 by South Africa on November 24, 2021 (...). This mutant contains a large number of mutations, some of which are worrisome.”

With the emergence of the new mutant in South Africa, the borders began to be closed, as several European countries decided on Friday to suspend flights from this country, while other countries, including Japan, imposed a quarantine.

On Friday, the United States also announced the closure of its borders to travelers from eight countries in southern Africa, after the detection of the mutant Omicron.

Also, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced on Friday that they would suspend flights from seven African countries because of the new mutant.

The discovery of this mutant, which may be highly contagious, was announced in South Africa on Thursday. It was also announced that a first infection had been detected in Europe, specifically in Belgium, as well as in Israel.

Despite the World Health Organization's recommendations not to impose travel restrictions, Britain, France and the Netherlands banned flights from South Africa and five neighboring countries. The European Union also recommended that member states suspend flights to and from southern Africa.

Other countries have taken similar measures, including Brazil, Morocco, and Jordan.

The South African government considered the decisions "hasty." These measures deal a fresh blow to tourism just before the southern summer, when zoos and hotels are usually full.

And a European health agency announced Friday that the risk of spreading the new mutant in Europe is “high to very high.”

In a risk assessment report, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that "the overall level of risk associated with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron mutant in the EU/EEA has been assessed as high to very high."

In parallel, the US pharmaceutical company Moderna announced Friday that it will develop a booster dose against the mutant Omicron.

In response to a number of countries' decisions to impose travel restrictions, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said in a statement, "Our immediate concern is the damage this decision will do to the tourism industries and businesses."

Concerns about the new mutant caused a drop in oil prices and a sharp decline in global stock markets.

The omicron was discovered at a time when health restrictions are causing social tension while some people continue to distrust vaccination.

On Friday, Italy prevented anyone who visited South Africa "in the past 14 days" from entering its territory.

In Asia, Singapore announced a similar ban, which will take effect on Sunday, with the exception of its citizens and residents.

In Germany, where the number of deaths from the virus exceeded the 100,000 mark on Thursday, only German citizens will be allowed to return from South Africa from Friday evening, provided they adhere to a 14-day quarantine, even if they are vaccinated.

The outgoing German Health Minister, Jens Spahn, announced that "the last thing we want now is to introduce a new mutant that causes more problems."

Some hospitals have reached their maximum capacity in Germany, while there is currently debate about making the vaccine mandatory, as was decided in Austria.

A WHO spokesperson announced Friday that understanding the level of transmission and severity of the new mutant needs "several weeks".

So far, 22 cases of the new mutant of Covid have been recorded, most of them in young people, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in South Africa.

And injuries were recorded in Botswana and an injury in Hong Kong for a person returning from a trip to South Africa.

And Israel announced the infection of the new mutant “in a person who returned from Malawi,” according to the Ministry of Health, which spoke of “two other cases of people who returned from abroad” and were placed in quarantine.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement that these three were vaccinated against Covid-19, without specifying the number of doses or the type of vaccine.

At this point, scientists in South Africa seem unsure about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the new form of the virus.

Virologist Tulio de Oliveira said in a press conference at the South African Ministry of Health that the new mutant contains a "very large" number of mutations, "and we can detect the possibility of its spread very quickly."

Scientists report that the mutant "B.1.1.529" carries at least 10 different copies, as opposed to two copies of the delta mutant.

"Our concern is that this mutant may not only have an increased transmissibility, but may be able to penetrate parts of our immune system," said Professor Richard Lessels.

About 54 percent of the world's population has received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19, but only 5.6 percent in low-income countries have received the vaccine, according to the "Our World in Data" website.

In South Africa, the worst-affected country on the continent, 23.8 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated.

And Covid-19 caused the death of more than 1.5 million people in Europe, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

In total, the virus has killed more than 5.16 million people worldwide since the end of 2019. However, the World Health Organization estimates that the actual pandemic outcome may be two to three times higher.

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