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CAPETOWN: South Africa has complained it is being punished – instead of applauded – for discovering Omicron, a concerning new variant of COVID-19.
The foreign ministry made the statement as countries around the world restrict travel from southern African countries as details of the spread emerged A statement by the South African foreign ministry on Saturday strongly criticised the travel bans. “Excellent science should be applauded and not punished,” it said.
The bans were “akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker”. The statement added that the reaction had been completely different when new variants were discovered elsewhere in the world.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the new variant was being considered as “of concern”. The early evidence suggests Omicron has a higher re-infection risk.
Several cases have been identified in Europe, including two in the UK and one in Belgium. Single suspected cases were also found in Germany and the Czech republic. Hundreds of passengers arriving in the Netherlands from South Africa are being tested for the new variant.
Dutch health authorities said on Saturday they had detected 61 COVID-19 cases among people who flew from South Africa and were now doing further tests to see whether any are infected with the new Omicron variant.
The cases were discovered among around 600 passengers who arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on two flights on Friday before the Dutch government halted air traffic from southern Africa due to concerns over the variant.
Dutch health authorities said they would also seek to contact travellers who had arrived from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe since Monday and urge them to take a test as soon as possible.
The passengers from Friday’s flights were kept separated from other travellers and those who tested positive are being kept in isolation at a hotel near the airport.
A spokesperson for KLM said the airline was trying to determine what rules were in place as of Friday morning to prevent people with COVID-19 infections from boarding the flights, which departed from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Rules on the company’s website said passengers had to present a negative COVID-19 “rapid antigen” test result taken 24 hours before departure but were not required to show proof of vaccination.
The Dutch flight ban does not mean that all flights from southern Africa to the Netherlands are halted, as Dutch citizens are allowed to return home, while EU citizens are allowed entry in transit to their home countries.
Medical staff, airline crews and people with pressing needs are also still allowed to travel. KLM will continue flights to the region, but travellers need to stay in quarantine for at least five days upon arrival in the Netherlands. The new variant has been detected just as many European countries are grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases.
