SA slams 18 countries imposing travel bans on fears of Omicron

South Africa’s top health federation on Sunday slammed the 18 nations which have imposed travel bans on the country on fears of the new potentially highly-transmissible variant of Covid-19, Omicron, saying the world must avoid such “knee-jerk reaction” if it wants “transparency” in the sharing of critical medical data.

The new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa, was on Friday designated as a “Variant of Concern” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which named it “Omicron”.

The decision by 18 countries to ban flights to and from South Africa was premature, as there is still not enough information on how dangerous the variant might be, Angelique Coetzee, Chairman of South African Medical Association (SAMA) said.