Officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning to the Asia-Pacific region on the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) mutant strain Omicron on December 3, emphasizing that the implementation of border controls is just to buy time for the government and call on them to upgrade The country’s medical capabilities and the promotion of comprehensive vaccination.
At a video press conference held on the 3rd, the director of the WHO Western Pacific Region, Ken Kasai, pointed out: "People should not only rely on border control measures." He said: "The most important thing is to prepare for the high infectiousness of the mutant virus strains. The information so far shows that we have not changed our approach."
Even though those African countries have closed their borders after the outbreak, Omicron has been spotted in Asia this week, with cases in India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
Australia is the latest country in the Asia-Pacific region to have a local case.
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There are differences in vaccination rates in Asia-Pacific, and some of the gaps are so large that it is worrying.
For example, Indonesia, the world's fourth most densely populated country, has a population of 270 million, but only about 35% of the population has been vaccinated against the new crown.