Global health authorities warn against ‘blanket’ travel bans – Everett Post

Everett

(WASHINGTON) – Global health authorities are calling for “blanket” travel bans to be applied in response to the threat posed by new coronavirus variants as some nations have rushed to allow inbound travel from South African countries where the Omicron variant has been discovered conclude.

The same health officials also warn that travel bans could adversely affect global efforts to respond to the pandemic, as nations may refuse to report new dates and variants if they fear that other countries may seemingly penalize them for doing theirs Exclude nationals from travel.

“General travel bans will not prevent the international spread and will put a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” says a statement by the World Health Organization (WHO). “In addition, they can negatively impact global health efforts during a pandemic by preventing countries from reporting and sharing epidemiological and sequencing data.”

Instead of blanket travel bans, the United Nations Health Department is calling on countries to use an “evidence-based and risk-based approach” when implementing new travel restrictions.

WHO advice comes after saying that around 56 countries have taken travel measures aimed at potentially delaying imports of the Omicron variant.

In the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s senior medical adviser, told ABC News host George Stephanopoulos last Sunday that travel bans could “slow things down,” but they will not prevent a new variant from coming into the country.

“What you can do is delay it enough to better prepare us,” said Fauci. “And people have to understand that. If you implement the travel ban as we have now and are implementing it now, you will use the time you buy to fill in the gaps. “

In particular, Fauci’s remarks came before the US confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in California on Wednesday.

“Travel bans are a very weak measure at best, but they are most valuable very, very early on in the creation of a new variant,” said Dr. John Brownstein, a professor at Harvard Medical School, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an ABC News employee.

Travel bans can “buy a little time,” he said, but only if they are implemented quickly and consistently.

“The problem we have here is that detection doesn’t mean being the epicenter of the outbreak,” Brownstein said. “Just because South Africa had an incredible ability to recognize sequences doesn’t mean that most cases occur here.”

Some South African officials and scholars describe the travel bans against their country as discriminatory and punitive.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated WHO’s views in remarks to reporters when he traveled to Nigeria on Tuesday, saying South Africa should not be “punished” for travel bans after being transparent with its omicron detection and research.

“These bans must be lifted, they must be lifted,” said Ramaphosa. “In fact, we’re so advanced in the world that now we know when people travel they should be tested like I was tested last night, and I’ll be happy to be tested when I get back. We have the tools we have to deal with it. “

Ramaphosa added that open travel is vital to the tourism industry around the world, which he believes is “really devastated”.

“And for us, the tourism industry is also one of the key industries for southern Africa,” he said. “So this is unfair, it is discriminatory against us, and they impose a very unfair penalty.”

One of the South African scientists who helped identify the variant of Omicron similarly broke the travel bans placed on South African countries as a result of its discovery.

Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation in Stellenbosch, South Africa, tweeted Monday evening that he had spent “a large part” of his day talking to genome and biotech companies because his team was “going to run out “Be from reagents, since planes don’t fly to South Africa.”

In a series of tweets last week, de Oliveira urged the world to “support South Africa and Africa and not discriminate or isolate them”.

“We handled scientific information very transparently. We identified the data, published it and raised the alarm as infections are on the rise. We did this to protect our country and the world, even though they may face massive discrimination, ”he tweeted.

In an interview with the New Yorker, de Oliveira added that he was “very upset” with what happened after the discovery, particularly in connection with travel bans.

“The UK, after praising us for discovering the variant, put us in this absolutely stupid travel ban and it has been hoarding vaccines for the last year,” he told the outlet. “It tries to blame the hesitation about vaccines. It is looking for a reason to blame Africa. “

Brownstein, who also noted that countries felt penalized rather than incentive for reporting new variants, suggested that pre- and post-travel testing and “intensive monitoring” were “incredibly helpful and probably more valuable than the travel restrictions”. Travel bans are “not the best way”.

“We have really robust testing, we have other tools available,” he said. “We should be able not to do these things.”

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said in his remarks on Tuesday that it was “deeply worrying” that countries “are now being punished by others for doing the right thing”.

“I understand the concern of all countries to protect their citizens from a variant that we do not yet fully understand,” he said. “But I am equally concerned that several Member States are adopting blunt, blanket measures that are not evidence-based or effective on their own and only exacerbate inequalities.”

Ultimately, Ghebreyesus urged nations to take “rational, proportionate risk reduction measures consistent with International Health Regulations”.

“The global response needs to be calm, coordinated and coherent,” he added.