“Omicron”: An empty panic or a real threat?
The World Health Organization warned Monday that the new variant of the coronavirus, “Omicron,” first detected in South Africa on November 24, already poses a very high risk of global spread with the most severe consequences. The WHO called on all 194 member countries to accelerate vaccination programs for high-risk groups and to prepare for a new influx of patients into health care facilities.
Although no deaths from the new COVID-19 variant have been reported, the WHO notes that the multiple mutations “Omicron” has undergone may help it evade the immune systems of people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from other strains of COVID-19. “The increase in the number of cases of infection, regardless of the severity of the disease, can place an additional burden on health systems, which in turn can lead to an increase in mortality,” the WHO warns. “Therefore, the impact on high-risk groups can be quite significant, especially in countries with low vaccination coverage.”
To date, cases of Omicron infection have been detected in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Israel and several other countries. This has prompted many governments to urgently take additional protective measures, primarily strengthening border controls.
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, urged people not to hesitate and to get tested more often after six cases of the “Omicron” variant were reported in Scotland. Some of the infected people did not travel anywhere and apparently contracted the virus near their homes. Fortunately, none of them have required hospitalization, and all infected people are in self-isolation. Starmer and his Welsh counterpart, Mark Drakeford, want London to introduce new, tougher requirements for those coming to the UK from abroad, but Downing Street is currently refusing to tighten the policy.
Currently, Scottish doctors are tracing all contacts of those infected to identify the source of the disease and to determine who else may have been infected but may not yet be showing symptoms. It is recommended that anyone who may have been in contact with the infected individuals, whether they have been vaccinated or not, self-isolate for 10 days. Stergeben also promised to introduce additional testing in areas where the new variant of the coronavirus has been detected, noting that it is too early to talk about further spread or, on the contrary, containment of the infection.
On Sunday, the first carriers of “Omicron” were detected in North America, in Canada, and on Monday, US President Joe Biden called this strain “a cause for concern, but not for panic. Speaking at the White House, Biden said that “Omicron” is virtually inevitable and will eventually appear in the United States.
As of Monday, the United States has banned flights from several southern African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Joe Biden said the ban would give the U.S. time to study the new strain. “We have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists, and we learn every new day,” – said the President of the United States.
Dutch police arrested a couple at Schiphol Airport who had escaped from quarantine and were planning to fly to Spain. Earlier, 13 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa tested positive for the new variant of the coronavirus. The authorities do not report whether the escaped couple (a Spanish national and a Portuguese national) from Africa, who were quarantined in the same area where passengers arriving from South Africa were isolated, have arrived. Violators will be prosecuted for violating the quarantine law. Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 20,000 COVID-related deaths have been recorded in the Netherlands, one of the lowest mortality rates in Western Europe.
Passengers are screened before boarding flights at Sydney International Airport. Australia has suspended further relaxation of rules for incoming foreign travelers after the most dangerous new variant of the coronavirus was detected in five passengers. From December 1, they planned to allow vaccinated skilled migrant workers and foreign students, but the emergence of “Omicron” forced the country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison to postpone the relaxations for two weeks. Until recently, Australia had some of the strictest border controls in the world, with even citizens not allowed to leave the country without a valid reason.