The World Health Organization has warned blanket travel bans will not prevent the spread of Omicron, as more countries rushed to impose curbs and the first cases of the new Covid strain were detected in Latin America.
In the week since the new virus strain was reported by South Africa, dozens of countries around the world have responded with travel restrictions, most targeting southern African nations.
But the World Health Organization warned that “blanket” travel bans risked doing more harm than good, just as Canada expanded its restrictions.
In a travel advisory, the WHO warned the bans could ultimately dissuade countries from sharing data about the evolving virus.
World Health Organisation Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was understandable for countries to seek to protect their citizens against a variant we don’t yet fully understand but he called for the global response to be calm, coordinated, coherent, urging nations to take rational, proportional risk reduction measures.
