New omicron variant stokes world fears, triggers travel bans

By RAF CASERT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The find of a caller coronavirus variant sent a chill done overmuch of the satellite Friday arsenic nations raced to halt aerial travel, markets fell sharply and scientists held exigency meetings to measurement the nonstop risks, which were mostly unknown.

A World Health Organization sheet named the variant “omicron” and classified it arsenic a highly transmissible microorganism of concern, the aforesaid class that includes the delta variant. The WHO suggested the variant could airs greater risks than delta, which is the world’s astir prevalent variant and has fueled relentless waves of corruption connected each continent.

Early grounds suggests an accrued hazard of reinfection compared to different highly transmissible variants, the WHO said. That means radical who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could beryllium taxable to catching it again.

In response, the United States and Canada joined the European Union and respective different countries successful instituting question restrictions connected visitors from confederate Africa.

The White House said the U.S. volition restrict question from South Africa and 7 different countries successful the portion opening Monday. It did not springiness details but to accidental the restrictions volition not use to returning U.S. citizens oregon imperishable residents, who volition proceed to beryllium required to trial antagonistic earlier their travel.

Medical experts, including the WHO, warned against immoderate overreaction earlier the variant that originated successful confederate Africa was amended understood. But a jittery satellite feared the worst astir 2 years aft COVID-19 emerged and triggered a pandemic that has killed much than 5 cardinal radical astir the globe.

“We indispensable determination rapidly and astatine the earliest imaginable moment,” British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers.

There was nary contiguous denotation whether the variant causes much terrible disease. As with different variants, immoderate infected radical show nary symptoms, South African experts said. The WHO sheet drew from the Greek alphabet successful naming the variant omicron, arsenic it has done with earlier, large variants of the virus.

Even though immoderate of the familial changes look worrisome, it was unclear if the caller variant would airs a important nationalist wellness threat. Some erstwhile variants, similar the beta variant, initially acrophobic scientists but did not dispersed precise far.

The 27-nation European Union imposed a impermanent prohibition connected aerial question from confederate Africa, and stocks tumbled successful Asia, Europe and the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped much than 1,000 points. The S&P 500 scale was down 2.3%, connected gait for its worst time since February. The terms of lipid plunged astir 12%.

“The past happening we request is to bring successful a caller variant that volition origin adjacent much problems,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said. The subordinate nations of the EU person experienced a monolithic spike successful cases recently.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said flights volition person to “be suspended until we person a wide knowing astir the information posed by this caller variant, and travelers returning from this portion should respect strict quarantine rules.”

She insisted connected utmost caution, informing that “mutations could pb to the emergence and dispersed of adjacent much concerning variants of the microorganism that could dispersed worldwide wrong a fewer months.”

Belgium became the archetypal European Union state to denote a lawsuit of the variant.

“It’s a suspicious variant,” Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said. “We don’t cognize if it’s a precise unsafe variant.”

It has yet to beryllium detected successful the United States, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s apical infectious illness expert. Abroad, the variant “seems to beryllium spreading astatine a reasonably accelerated rate,” helium told CNN. And though it whitethorn beryllium much transmissible and resistant to vaccines than different variants, “we don’t cognize that for definite close now.”

Showing however analyzable the dispersed of a variant tin be, the Belgian lawsuit progressive a traveler who returned to Belgium from Egypt connected Nov. 11 but did not became sick with mild symptoms until Monday, according to prof Marc Van Ranst, who works for the technological radical overseeing the Belgian government’s COVID-19 response.

Israel, 1 of the world’s astir vaccinated countries, announced Friday that it besides detected its archetypal lawsuit of the caller variant successful a traveler who returned from Malawi. The traveler and 2 different suspected cases were placed successful isolation. Israel said each 3 were vaccinated, but officials were looking into the travelers’ nonstop vaccination status.

After a 10-hour overnight trip, passengers aboard KLM Flight 598 from Capetown, South Africa, to Amsterdam were held connected the borderline of the runway Friday greeting astatine Schiphol airdrome for 4 hours pending peculiar testing. Passengers aboard a formation from Johannesburg were besides being isolated and tested.

“It’s ridiculous. If we didn’t drawback the dreaded bug before, we’re catching it now,” said rider Francesca de’ Medici, a Rome-based creation advisor who was connected the flight.

Some experts said the variant’s emergence illustrated however affluent countries’ hoarding of vaccines threatens to prolong the pandemic.

Fewer than 6% of radical successful Africa person been afloat immunized against COVID-19, and millions of wellness workers and susceptible populations person yet to person a azygous dose. Those conditions tin velocity up dispersed of the virus, offering much opportunities for it to germinate into a unsafe variant.

“This is 1 of the consequences of the inequity successful vaccine rollouts and wherefore the grabbing of surplus vaccines by richer countries volition inevitably rebound connected america each astatine immoderate point,” said Michael Head, a elder probe chap successful planetary wellness astatine Britain’s University of Southampton. He urged Group of 20 leaders “to spell beyond vague promises and really present connected their commitments to stock doses.”

The caller variant added to capitalist anxiousness that months of advancement containing COVID-19 could beryllium reversed.

“Investors are apt to sprout archetypal and inquire questions aboriginal until much is known,” said Jeffrey Halley of overseas speech broker Oanda.

In a motion of however acrophobic Wall Street has become, the market’s alleged fearfulness gauge known arsenic the VIX jumped 48% to a speechmaking of 26.91. That’s the highest speechmaking for the volatility scale since January, earlier vaccines were wide distributed.

Speaking earlier the EU announcement, Dr. Michael Ryan, caput of emergencies astatine the WHO, warned against “knee-jerk responses.”

“We’ve seen successful the past, the infinitesimal there’s immoderate benignant of notation of immoderate benignant of saltation and everyone is closing borders and restricting travel,” Ryan said. “It’s truly important that we stay unfastened and enactment focused.”

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed and powerfully discouraged immoderate question bans connected countries that reported the caller variant. It said past acquisition shows that specified question bans person “not yielded a meaningful outcome.”

Yet the U.S. announced restrictions connected visitors from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi, hours aft governments took akin steps.

The U.K. banned flights from South Africa and 5 different confederate African countries astatine noon connected Friday and announced that anyone who had precocious arrived from those countries would beryllium asked to instrumentality a coronavirus test.

Canada banned the introduction of each foreigners who person traveled to confederate Africa successful the past 2 weeks.

The Japanese authorities announced that Japanese nationals traveling from Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho volition person to quarantine astatine government-dedicated accommodations for 10 days and instrumentality 3 COVID-19 tests during that time. Japan has not yet opened up to overseas nationals.

Fauci said U.S. nationalist wellness officials were talking Friday with South African colleagues. “We privation to find retired idiosyncratic to idiosyncratic precisely what is going on.”

The WHO’s method moving radical says coronavirus infections jumped 11% successful the past week successful Europe, the lone portion successful the satellite wherever COVID-19 continues to rise.

The WHO’s Europe director, Dr. Hans Kluge, warned that without urgent measures, the continent could spot an further 700,000 deaths by the spring.

____

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook successful Brussels, Colleen Barry successful Milan, Pan Pylas successful London, Jamey Keaten successful Geneva, Mike Corder successful The Hague, Dave McHugh successful Frankfurt, Carley Petesch successful Dakar, Andrew Meldrum successful Johannesburg and Frank Jordans successful Berlin contributed to this report.