{"id":12785,"date":"2021-11-28T01:25:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T09:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12785"},"modified":"2021-11-29T01:26:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T09:26:50","slug":"as-omicron-variant-circles-the-globe-african-nations-face-blame-and-bans-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12785","title":{"rendered":"“As Omicron Variant Circles the Globe, African Nations Face Blame and Bans”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Benjamin Mueller<\/span> and Declan Walsh, Sunday cover story, November 28, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

With countries trying to close their doors to the new coronavirus variant, southern African officials note that the West\u2019s hoarding of vaccines helped create their struggle in the first place<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nations in southern Africa protested bitterly on Saturday as more of the world\u2019s wealthiest countries cut them off from travel, renewing a debate over border closures from the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic and compounding the problems facing poorly vaccinated countries.<\/p>\n

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A new coronavirus variant called Omicron, first detected in Botswana, put governments on edge after South Africa announced a surge of cases this week, plunging countries into the most uncertain moment of the pandemic since the highly contagious Delta variant took hold this spring.<\/p>\n

As in the early days of Delta, political alarm spread quickly across the world, with officials trading blame over how the failures of the global vaccination effort were allowing the virus to mutate, even as researchers warned that the true threat of the new variant was not yet clear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tracking Omicron and Other Coronavirus Variants<\/a><\/h2>\n

Coronavirus mutations, variants and lineages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bearing a worrying number of mutations that researchers fear could make it spread easily, Omicron was spotted on Saturday in patients in Britain, Germany and Italy, leaving in its wake what scientists estimated to be thousands of cases in southern Africa and tens or hundreds more globally. One nation after another shut its doors to southern Africa even as they spurned public health measures that scientists said were far more urgently needed to take on the new variant.<\/p>\n

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Australia, Thailand and Sri Lanka were among the latest countries on Saturday to join the United States, Britain and the European Union in banning travelers from South Africa and nearby countries.<\/p>\n

Israel announced the world\u2019s strictest ban to date, sealing its borders to all foreigners for 14 days after one case was confirmed in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key here is caution and minimal risks until we know more,\u201d Prime Minister Naftali Bennet of Israel said at a news conference just after midnight local time on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Health officials in the Netherlands on Saturday announced that 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa had tested positive for the virus, the latest indication of how difficult it might be to stop the variant from crossing borders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Health workers transport passengers from South Africa who tested positive for the coronavirus to a quarantine hotel in Schiphol, the Netherlands, on Saturday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Laurens Bosch\/EPA, via Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The cascade of travel closures triggered a wave of resentment among Africans who believed that the continent was yet again bearing the brunt of panicked policies from Western countries, which had failed to deliver vaccines and the resources needed to administer them.<\/p>\n

Richer countries, having already hoarded vaccines for much of 2021, were now penalizing parts of the world that they had starved of shots in the first place, scientists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTold you so,\u201d said Francois Venter, a researcher at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, referring to warnings from African researchers that delaying vaccinations there risked the emergence of new variants. \u201cIt feels like these rich countries have learned absolutely nothing in terms of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sense of outrage was most visceral in South Africa, where business leaders predicted a dire economic toll, especially on tourism. In the arrivals halls of Johannesburg\u2019s O.R. Tambo International airport, Ronald Masiwa, a tour operator, watched with dread as the information board flipped to red, displaying cancellation notices. Three clients had already canceled trips overnight, and he feared that many more would follow.<\/p>\n

Some health officials said that the travel bans may buy some time to figure out how to deal with the new variant. But just as border closures a year ago did little to stop the spread of an earlier coronavirus variant from Britain, scientists said, the latest travel shutdowns had likely come too late.<\/p>\n

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A passenger whose flight to Dubai was canceled talks to staff at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Saturday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Joao Silva\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Scientists worried that the restrictions would discourage other nations from reporting variant cases, out of fear of being slapped with travel bans. Border closures have provoked debate during a succession of public health crises, including the Ebola outbreak in 2014, with global health officials warning that such bans can interrupt the flow of medical supplies and do economic damage that makes countries reluctant to report health threats.<\/p>\n

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The chaotic introduction of the closures in Amsterdam on Friday left some 600 passengers on two flights from South Africa crammed into planes and then unventilated rooms for about 30 hours. Those who avoided hotel quarantines by testing negative scattered to other destinations after receiving results around 3 a.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou close down the boundary with Africa, then you close the boundary with Belgium, then you close the boundary with somewhere else,\u201d said Alessandro Vespignani, a Northeastern University professor who has studied travel restrictions from early 2020 and advised government agencies in recent days on responses to the latest variant. \u201cBut every time you close it, it\u2019s a little late.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Coronavirus Pandemic: Latest Updates<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Nov. 28, 2021, 9:43 p.m. ET<\/span>Nov. 28, 2021<\/span><\/div>\n

Nov. 28, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n