THE HAGUE — A new, heavily mutated COVID-19 variant
spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders, renewing curbs, and
sparking fears for the fight against the nearly two-year-old coronavirus
pandemic.
اضافة اعلان
Dubbed Omicron, the strain has cast doubt on global efforts
to battle the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing
countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past.
Dutch health authorities said they had identified at least
13 cases of Omicron among 61 quarantined passengers who tested positive for
coronavirus after arriving from South Africa.
"The investigation has not yet been completed. The new
variant may be found in more test samples," the National Institute for
Public Health warned.
Despite the alarm, in Austria tens of thousands rallied to
protest against the government's introduction of compulsory vaccination — the
first EU country to do so.
Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it was "a minor
interference" compared to the alternative for a country with one of the
lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe.
With many European nations, including Germany and France,
already bringing back curbs to counter surges in infections, Swiss voters
broadly backed a proposed COVID pass law in a referendum on Sunday.
In Britain, Health Secretary Avid Javid said new COVID rules
will be enforced from Tuesday.
Mask-wearing will again be mandatory in shops and on public
transport in England. All passengers arriving in Britain will have to take a
PCR test and self-isolate until negative.
Scientists are racing to determine the threat posed by the
heavily mutated strain — particularly whether it can evade existing vaccines.
But a long list of countries have already imposed travel
restrictions on southern Africa, where it was first detected, including key
travel hub Qatar, the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Netherlands.
Angola became the first southern African country to suspend
all flights from its regional neighbors Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa.
'Very dangerous'
Israel announced some of the strictest curbs, closing the
borders to all foreigners — just four weeks after reopening to tourists
following a prolonged closure due to COVID.
"We are raising a red flag," Israeli Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett said. Ten million PCR test kits would be ordered to stem the
"very dangerous" strain.
Israeli citizens will be required to present a negative PCR
test and quarantine for three days if they have been vaccinated against the
coronavirus and seven days if they have not.
But the virus strain has already slipped through the net,
and has now been found everywhere from the Netherlands to Hong Kong and
Australia, where authorities Sunday said they had detected it for the first
time in two passengers from southern Africa who were tested after flying into
Sydney.
The arrival of the new variant comes just a month after
Australia lifted a ban on travelling overseas without permission.
Denmark confirmed its first Omicron infections, in two
passengers who arrived on a flight from South Africa.
The speed at which governments slammed their borders shut
took many by surprise, with travelers thronging Johannesburg international
airport, desperate to squeeze onto the last flights to countries that had
imposed sudden travel bans.
In Amsterdam, 61 passengers tested positive after arriving
on two flights from South Africa in an ordeal one passenger described as
"Dystopia Central Airline Hallway".
New York Times global health reporter Stephanie Nolen said
passengers, including babies and toddlers, were crammed together waiting to get
tested, and "still 30 percent of people are wearing no mask or only over
mouth".
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