Many countries including America, Canada and Britain have closed their borders due to new variants of Corona. Canada's Health Minister Jean-Vay Ducklos has said that Canada is acting swiftly to protect its citizens. Canada has banned seven countries. These include South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
He said that with this foreign travelers who have traveled to these seven countries in 14 days are barred from entering Canada. Meanwhile, the US has also decided to suspend flights coming from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi in view of the dangerous variants of Corona. This ban will come into effect from Monday.
European Union countries and Switzerland have also temporarily banned flights to and from several southern African countries. Britain has also barred the entry of people coming from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. If citizens of Britain or Ireland come from these countries, then they will not be banned. It is noteworthy that the World Health Organization has named the new version B.1.1.529 of the corona virus found in Botswana, South Africa, as Omicron. Viruses in this category are considered highly contagious. The Delta variant was also placed in the same category.
The first case of infection with the B.1.1.529 variant was reported to the WHO on 24 November in South Africa. Infection with this variant was detected on 9 November 2021 from a sample that came for the test.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanam Ghebreyesus said in a tweet that the new Kovid-19 variant is a large number of mutations of Omicron, some of which are quite worrying. That's why we have to be aware of the vaccine. To understand the impact, a comprehensive investigation will have to be done so that appropriate arrangements can be made keeping in mind its risks and public health.