Worried West rushes to stop air travel with some African nations where B.1.1.529 has been detected
Passengers upon their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport near Lod, as Israel reopens to vaccinated tourists on November 1. It has detected its first patient on the new variant. Pics/AFP
A slew of nations moved to stop air travel from southern Africa on Friday, and stocks plunged in Asia and Europe in reaction to news of a new, potentially more transmissible COVID-19 variant. There are fears that the new variant could be even more contagious than the current predominant one and could bypass the effectiveness of the vaccination campaigns. Israel, one of the world's most vaccinated countries, announced on Friday that it has detected the country's first case of the new variant in a traveller who returned from Malawi. UK announced that it was banning flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries effective Friday noon, and that anyone who had recently arrived from those countries would be asked to take a COVID test. Germany said its flight ban could be enacted as soon as Friday night. Italy also announced a ban on travellers from seven African nations.
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Advisers to the World Health Organization are holding a special session Friday to flesh out information about a worrying new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in South Africa, though a top expert says its impact on COVID-19 vaccines may not be known for weeks.
Passengers at the O.R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, in 2019. France has also suspended arrivals from seven southern African countries
The technical advisory group on the evolution of COVID-19 was meeting virtually to discuss the so-called B.1.1.529 variant that has caused stock markets to swoon and led the European Union to recommend a pause in flights to southern Africa.
The group could decide if it’s a ‘variant of concern’, ‘the most worrying type, like the well-known delta variant,’ or a ‘variant of interest,’ and whether to use a Greek letter to classify it.
People leave the Regal Airport Hotel at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong on Friday, where the new variant ‘was detected in a traveller from South Africa and who has since passed it on to a local man. Pic/AFP
“We don’t know very much about this, yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations, and the concern is that when you have so many mutations it can have an impact on how the virus behaves,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, in a social-media chat Thursday.
Fewer than 100 full genome sequences of the variant are so far available, she said. “It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant has on any potential vaccines, for example,” Van Kerkhove said.
11 per cent
Jump in infections in Europe in the past week
EU wants to stop flights
The European Union’s executive said Friday it wants to stop air travel from southern Africa to counter the spread of a new COVID-19 variant. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that she “proposes, in close coordination with the member states, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region.” “The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn.
UK investigates new COVID variant
The UK’s health authorities confirmed that the new variant of COVID-19 is officially under investigation in the country as the government on Friday added six countries to its travel ban red list from southern Africa. The UK has travel restrictions on arrivals from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia starting Friday, as the government reiterated that no cases of the new mutation in the UK.
Israel warns of ‘emergency’
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel is “on the threshold of an emergency situation” on Friday after authorities detected the country’s first case of a new coronavirus variant in a traveller who returned from Malawi.
Belgium reports first case
Belgium became the first European Union country to announce a case of the variant. It involved a person who came from abroad.
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