New variant of COVID triggers global alarm as WHO urges caution

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LONDON / GENEVA – Global authorities reacted with alarm on Friday to a new variant of coronavirus detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to find out whether the mutation was resistant to vaccines.

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Hours after Britain banned flights from South Africa and neighboring countries and asked travelers to return from there to quarantine, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against hasty measures.

A South African scientist called London’s decision a symptom of “vaccine apartheid,” though European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was also aiming to stop air travel from the region and several others. countries, including India, Japan and Israel, hardened the sidewalks.

In Washington, America’s top infectious disease official, Anthony Fauci, said no decision had been made on a possible travel ban to the United States.

There was no indication the variant was in the United States and it was unclear if it was resistant to current vaccines, he told CNN.

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The WHO said it would take weeks to determine how effective vaccines were against the variant, which was first identified this week, but the news hit global stocks and oil amid fears that the new bans would hit the industry. global travel and already unstable economies across the South. Africa.

The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different from the original coronavirus the vaccines are based on, the UK Health Safety Agency said, raising fears about how current vaccines will fare.

“As scientists have described, (this is) the most significant variant they have found to date,” British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.

In Geneva, the WHO, whose experts on Friday discussed the risks posed by the variant, called B.1.1.529, warned against travel restrictions for now.

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“At this point, you are cautioning against implementing travel measures,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN briefing. “WHO recommends that countries continue to apply a scientific and risk-based approach when implementing (restrictions).”

It would take several weeks to determine the transmissibility of the variant and the effectiveness of vaccines against it, Lindmeier said, noting that 100 sequences of it had been reported so far.

British Health Minister Sajid Javid said the variant sequence was first uploaded by Hong Kong from someone traveling from South Africa.

“More cases have been identified in South Africa and Botswana, and it is very likely that it has now spread to other countries,” Javid told lawmakers.

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Israel imposed a travel ban that covered most of Africa, as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said some cases had been reported there.

Israel’s Ynet news website said that according to the Health Ministry, one of those people had received a third injection, or booster, of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine two months ago. A spokesman for the Health Ministry could not confirm the report.

“We are currently on the brink of a state of emergency,” Bennett said in a statement from his office.

“Our fundamental principle is to act fast, strong and now.”

TOO LATE FOR TRAVEL EDGES?

A Hong Kong epidemiologist said it might be too late to tighten travel limits.

“Most likely, this virus is already in other places. So if we close the door now, it will probably be too late, ”said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.

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South Africa will speak to British authorities to try to reconsider its ban, the Foreign Ministry in Pretoria said.

Richard Lessells, a South Africa-based infectious disease expert involved in screening for variants, also expressed frustration over travel bans and said the focus should be on vaccinating more people in places that have had difficulty accessing enough vaccines.

“That is why we talk about the risk of the apartheid vaccine. This virus can evolve in the absence of adequate levels of vaccination, “he told Reuters.

In South Africa, about 35% of adults are fully vaccinated, more than in most other African nations, but about half the average levels in developed countries.

European states had already been expanding booster vaccines and tightening restrictions as the continent battles a fourth wave of COVID-19, led by the Delta variant against which current vaccines are effective, with many reporting record daily increases in the cases.

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The discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.

Italy imposed an entry ban on people who have visited southern African states in the past 14 days, while France suspended flights from southern Africa and Bahrain and Croatia will ban arrivals from some countries.

India issued an advisory to all states to screen and screen international travelers from South Africa and other “at risk” countries, while Japan tightened border controls.

The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting nearly 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.

(Reporting from offices around the world; written by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet; edited by John Stonestreet)