South Africa questions UK flight ban amid global alarm over COVID variant

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 26 (Reuters) – South Africa said on Friday that a UK ban on flights from six southern African countries over a new variant of COVID-19 appeared rushed, as European authorities were preparing similar measures and that the World Health Organization called an emergency meeting.

Scientists have so far detected only relatively small numbers of the B.1.1.529 variant, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel, but they are concerned about its high number of mutations that could make it resistant to vaccines and more transmissible. Read more

The Foreign Office said South Africa will speak to Britain to try to get it to reconsider its restrictions, and President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene an advisory council on Sunday to consider evidence for the variant.

“Our immediate concern is the damage this decision will cause to both tourism industries and businesses in both countries,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said in a statement.

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Britain said the variant was the largest to date after banning flights from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was also aiming to suspend air travel from the region, describing the variant in a tweet as “worrying”.

A WHO working group on the evolution of the virus will meet on Friday to discuss whether to officially give it this label, a designation so far given to four variants. But it could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the impact of the variant’s mutations.

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Botswana said the four variant cases it detected were foreigners who had arrived on diplomatic missions but had since left the country. He did not specify which country they were from, but said contact tracing was underway.

VACCINE FOCUS

Scientists have expressed frustration at the travel bans, saying the focus should be on vaccinating more people in places that have struggled to access sufficient vaccines.

“This is why we have talked about the risk of vaccine apartheid. This virus can evolve in the absence of adequate levels of vaccination. It is heartbreaking that this has to happen to get the message across,” Richard Lessells , a South African-based infectious disease expert involved in the detection of variants, told Reuters.

In South Africa, around 35% of adults are fully immunized, a figure higher than in most other African countries, but half of the government’s year-end target. While the continent initially struggled to get sufficient doses, some countries, including South Africa, now have too much stock, with reluctance to vaccinate slowing the vaccination campaign.

South Africa has been the worst-affected country in Africa in terms of the total number of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, with nearly 3 million infections and more than 89,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. He had known a lull after a third wave of severe infections, until last week, when new infections began to multiply.

On Thursday, it reported 2,465 new cases, nearly double the number the day before. Although the country’s communicable disease institute has not linked the resurgence to variant B.1.1.529, leading local scientists suspect that this is the cause.

Additional reporting by Tim Cocks, Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Emma Rumney in Johannesburg, Brian Benza in Gaborone Editing by Mark Potter, John Stonestreet and Frances Kerry

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