蜜芽传媒

South Africa's president has condemned travel bans - the UK, EU and US are among those who have enacted these - against his country and its neighbours over the new coronavirus variant Omicron. Cyril Ramaphosa described the actions as unjustified, and called for the bans to be urgently lifted. He said the bans will make an economic recovery difficult and that the income from the lucrative tourism trade would have boosted South Africa's economy. The heavily mutated variant was detected in South Africa earlier this month and then reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) last Wednesday. Early evidence suggests it has a higher re-infection risk.

Dr Joe Phaahla, South Africa's health minister, says that South Africa is being punished rather than rewarded for their vigilance and its openess in reporting their findings, and that these kinds of restrictions will make countries less willing to go public with announcements in the future. He believes that travel bans are not effective, as once the variant has been spotted, it is likely to have spread widely and that it is used for politican gain by leaders who want to be seen as acting proactively.

Photo: Passengers at OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, South Africa, as travel bans are imposed on arrivals from the country Credit: Reuters