Omicron variant: UK, EU ban travellers from 7 African nations

TIL Desk/World/London/ The United Kingdom’s health authorities have confirmed that a new and ‘most significant’ variant of COVID-19 is officially under investigation in the country as the World Health Organisation categorised it as a ‘variant of concern’ and named it Omicron.

The move came soon after Belgium confirmed a case of the B.1.1.529 variant in someone who had travelled back from Egypt earlier this month, with the European Union (EU) member states agreeing to a snap travel ban on seven African nations. It follows the UK government’s move adding six countries to its travel ban red list from southern African, where B.1.1.529 was first identified.

Travel restrictions will apply on arrivals from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia starting Friday, as the government reiterated that no cases of the new mutation had been detected in the UK so far. In Europe, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Malta and the Czech Republic are among the countries resorting to stricter restrictions on travel and even lockdowns amid an already worrying spike of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the UK recorded another 50,091 coronavirus infections and 160 COVID-19 deaths on Friday.