Head winds.
As countries around the world compete in measures to try to limit the circulation of the new variant of Covid-19, called Omicron, the WHO is trying to make its recommendations heard.
On Tuesday, the organization advised people over 60, or at risk of developing a severe form of the disease due to comorbidity, not to travel in the coming days.
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This recommendation, taken from a technical document of the organization is in addition to those issued since the start of the crisis generated by Omicron, to the multiple mutations that could make it more dangerous than the Delta variant.
This crisis began last week, with multiple airline closures to southern Africa, followed by border closures, dictated by many countries around the world, and to many other countries, where Omicron has been. detected.
WHO struggles to be heard
Since then, the WHO tries to deliver the word of its experts, without much success so far.
In the same technical document, she clarified that general travel bans will not prevent the spread of the variant.
On the contrary, these measures risk being counterproductive according to international experts.
On the one hand, "they place a heavy burden on lives and means of subsistence" in the various target countries.
On the other hand, "they can have a negative impact on global health efforts during a pandemic by discouraging countries from reporting and sharing epidemiological and sequencing data," the WHO explains.
Worried about the side effects of measures taken by states, the WHO has also called for a “rational” and “proportional” response to Omicron.
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“I understand the concern of all countries to protect their citizens.
But I am also concerned that several Member States are introducing general and brutal measures which are neither founded nor effective and which will only worsen inequalities ”, asserted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the Organization, a Earlier in the day.