Bangladesh suspends journey to South Africa amid fears of Omnicron variant unfold

Bangladesh on Saturday suspended journey from South Africa instantly, becoming a member of a rising record of nations banning journey to the nation amid fears of the unfold of the brand new coronavirus variant, Omicron, first detected there.

Bangladesh’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque stated that they’re conscious of the emergence of the brand new variant and have determined to droop journey from South Africa, bdnews24.com reported.“This new variant is extremely aggressive and so we are suspending travel from South Africa immediately,” he stated.“We are also strengthening screening procedures at all airports and land ports,” he was quoted as saying within the report.The minister stated that they’ve additionally despatched out directions on the district degree to step up enforcement of well being laws, together with the sporting of masks.”We should even be cautious about residents travelling from different nations. We will verify if they’ve acquired the vaccine and the RT-PCR take a look at,” he stated.The new doubtlessly extra contagious B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 24, and has additionally been recognized in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong, Israel and the UK.It was on Friday designated as a “Variant of Concern” by the WHO, which named it “Omicron”. A “variant of concern” is the WHO’s high class of worrying Covid-19 variants.Countries all over the world are at the moment racing to introduce journey bans and restrictions on southern African nations in an effort to include Omicron’s unfold.European nations together with the UK have banned journey to and from South Africa and neighbouring nations of Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, in addition to Lesotho and Eswatini (previously Swaziland), each of that are landlocked inside South Africa.Other nations embrace Mauritius, Israel, Sri Lanka, the US and the Netherlands.Many different nations adopted go well with, most of them indicating that solely their very own residents can be allowed again, topic to a quarantine interval.In New Delhi, the Indian authorities requested all states and union territories to conduct rigorous screening and testing of all worldwide travellers coming from or transiting via South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana, the place a brand new variant has been detected.Read | Omicron variant: Need to be proactive, overview worldwide journey curbs, says PM ModiAlso Read | WHO names new Covid variant Omicron; South Africa says journey bans unjustified | Top factors