The worrying profile of the new variant identified in South Africa, at the center of a WHO meeting on Friday, is pushing several countries to close their borders with southern Africa.
The UK drew on the first Thursday, announcing it would ban entry to travelers from six African countries, namely South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
This measure takes effect this Friday at 12 p.m. GMT.
This Friday morning, Germany in turn indicated that it would refuse foreign travelers from South Africa. Like Italy, which prohibits the entry of its territory to any person having stayed in southern Africa "during the last 14 days", announced Friday the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, invoking "the maximum precaution" vis-a-vis the new variant of Covid. Israel and Singapore have made the same arrangements.
For its part, the European Commission has proposed to suspend flights from the southern African region, its president Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday.
"The European Commission will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to activate the emergency brake to interrupt air travel from the southern African region due to the B.1.1.529 variant," tweeted Ms. von der Leyen.
"The situation is changing very quickly"
She did not specify how many countries in southern Africa were concerned. The European executive is due to make a proposal to the representatives of the member states at a meeting scheduled for Friday. It will then be up to the Council (institution representing the Twenty-Seven) to adopt such a recommendation. “The situation is changing very quickly; we want to make sure that we do our best to slow the spread of this variant, ”a Commission spokesperson told AFP.
Faced with this situation, Pretoria has already expressed its irritation with London, the first to have announced restrictions.
South Africa respects "the right of all countries to take the necessary precautionary measures to protect their citizens" but considers this decision to be at least "hasty" while the WHO has not yet ruled "on the next steps ”to be taken, says his Foreign Ministry.
"Our immediate concern is the damage this decision will cause to the tourism industries and businesses of the two countries," Minister Naledi Pandor said in this press release, specifying that her government intended "to dialogue with the British government in order to persuade it to reconsider its decision ”.
Financial centers worried
This potentially highly contagious variant with multiple mutations has already been identified in several countries. Currently, scientists are wondering about the effectiveness of vaccines against this variant which could "not only have an increased transmission capacity, but also be able to bypass parts of our immune system," said Professor Richard Lessells of Press overseen by the Ministry of Health.
To date, 22 cases have been reported, mostly affecting young people, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). Cases have also been reported in neighboring Botswana and Hong Kong, on a person returning from a trip to South Africa. A case of the new variant of Covid-19 detected in Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Health has announced that it has detected a case of the new variant of Covid-19 discovered in South Africa. “The variant found in southern African states has been identified in Israel. This is a person who has returned from Malawi, ”the ministry said, saying it fears“ two additional cases of people returned from abroad ”and placed in confinement.
The WHO has declared "to follow closely" this new variant and must meet Friday to determine its dangerousness.
But already this variant worries the financial centers.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 3% at midday.
In Paris, the CAC 40 drops 4% at the opening.
