As additional nations hastened to apply restrictions and the first instances of the novel COVID-19 strain were discovered in Latin America, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned that blanket travel bans would not halt the spread of Omicron.
In the week after South Africa announced the new HIV strain, dozens of governments across the world have imposed travel restrictions, the majority of which are aimed at southern African countries.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned on Tuesday that "blanket" travel bans might cause more harm than good.
The WHO cautioned in a travel advisory that the prohibitions might eventually deter countries from sharing data on the virus's evolution.
Unvaccinated persons who are vulnerable to COVID-19, such as the elderly, should avoid traveling to places where the virus is spread in the community.
It's acceptable for governments to want to safeguard their population "against a variety we don't completely understand," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He did, however, urge for a "calm, organized, and cohesive" global response.
The absurdity of imposing wide travel restrictions was shown when Dutch officials stated that Omicron was present in the nation before South Africa's first cases were identified on November 25.
The new variation was discovered in two Dutch test samples from November 19 and 23, one of which had no travel history and the other had a large number of mutations, which the WHO believes may make it more transmissible or resistant to vaccinations.
So far, instances have been found in more than a dozen nations and areas, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Italy, Portugal, and Hong Kong, China.
The first two cases were recorded in Latin America on Tuesday, in persons traveling from South Africa to Brazil, and the first case was verified in Japan one day after the country banned all international arrivals.
However, US President Joe Biden stated that the travel prohibitions imposed on only the southern African countries will be maintained, without mentioning the additional locations where Omicron has been discovered.
Governments around Asia continued to tighten restrictions on Wednesday, with Indonesia adding Hong Kong to its list of travel bans, along with several African countries.
