The spread of a new variant of Covid, B.1.1.529 made people doubt the efficiency of the vaccine as cases of the new variant have been found in the vaccinated population of Botswana. Botswana situated in the centre of southern Africa has almost 100 positive cases of the new variant. The latest and yet another mutating variant is now declared as Omicron variant “A variant of Concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO). Furthermore, Hong Kong has detected 2 cases of the new strain, one of them were the traveller from South Africa and the other one was residing in the hotel room next to the travellers’ room. Shortly after the confirmation of this alarming news, countries began imposing travel bans to and from Hong Kong and the various South African countries.
Why did WHO announce the Omicron variant as the “Variant of Concern”?
As we all know that the pernicious outbreak of the covid-19 virus began in China but to prevent the stigmatization of the countries. Based on the origin, WHO defined different terms for the mutated strains by denoting them with the Greek alphabet. For instance,
- Alpha (B.1.1.7) was first identified in the UK.
- Beta (B.1.351), primarily observed in South Africa.
- Gamma (P.1), initially spotted in Brazil.
- Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of India.
Now, the Omicron (B.1.1.529) strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is causing anxiety all across the globe as the WHO announced the new variant as a “variant of concern” on 26th November.
Depending upon the threat that the pathogen can induce, 3 terms are usually given:
- Variant Of Interest (VOI)
- Variant Of Concern (VOC)
- Variant Of High Consequences (VOHC)
The criterion set to come under the VOC category:
- Transmission rate.
- Disease severity.
- The escaping ability from the immunity developed by the vaccine.
As per the WHO, The Omicron variant of coronavirus has a high frequency of mutation which increases the chances of reinfection in the vaccinated community too and is more pestilent when compared to the delta variant. Regardless, it is going to take weeks to thoroughly research the new variant and to analyze the complications it can inflict in the jabbed population, stated by the WHO.
Different Nations enforced flight restrictions soon after the announcement.
List the countries that have imposed flight bans to and from the Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Lesotho Mozambique, and Malawi countries accompanied by the 14-day mandatory and strict quarantine schedule for the tourists are as follows:
- U.S
- Japan
- Canada
- Brazil
- Britain and European Union
- Saudi Arabia
- Russia
- Australia
What is the take of India in this chaos?
However, India still hasn’t employed any kind of travel ban from the affected nations yet but the Health Ministry on Thursday urged the states and the union territory for the systematic screenings and RT-PCR tests on the international visitors at the airport. Similarly, the Chief Minister of the capital Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on his Twitter posts pleaded with the central government to restrict the flights from the countries impacted by the novel Omicron variant.
He quoted,
“I urge Hon’ble PM to stop flights from those countries which are affected by [the] new variant. With great difficulty, our country has recovered from Corona. We should do everything possible to prevent this new variant from entering India.”
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