It started almost simultaneously, U.K., Canada and the United States were swift at it; slamming travel restrictions on Southern Africa over concerns of Omicron, the newest covid-19 variant that has rattled the world. Soon, other African countries where traces of Omicron have been found, were swiftly added to the travel red list.
Playing the smart kid in the room, the Omicron variant was discovered on Nov 24 by South African scientists, who quickly alerted the rest of the world. The variant discovery is now believed to have moved from a development of scientific prowess to a political jingoism pushing to isolate the African continent.
On Sunday, the UK announced that Nigeria has been added to its travel red list. The UK Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid, said only citizens and residents of the UK and Ireland traveling from Nigeria would be allowed entry into the region.
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“In light of the most recent data we are taking further action to slow the incursion of the Omicron variant.
“From 4 am Monday, only UK/Irish citizens and residents traveling from Nigeria will be allowed entry and must isolate in a managed quarantine facility,” he said.
Further to this, the British High Commission said on Sunday it’s making decisions on visitor visa applications from all red list countries.
“To support the UK Government’s aim to protect public health from COVID-19 and associated variants of concern (VOC), UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) will pause making decisions in all red list countries, including Nigeria, until restrictions are lifted,” statement from the Commission said.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, confirmed its first three cases of Omicron variant on Wednesday, linked to travelers from South Africa. But it has not recorded any other case since then.
Though South Africa, Africa’s third-largest economy, seems to be the epicenter of Omicron with the country recording a surge in new cases since the variant was detected, the numbers are rising in other countries as well. So far, the variant has been found in more than 30 countries globally, with many cases said to have existed before South Africa made it known.
The Netherlands had undetected positive cases about 11 days before it was found in South Africa. The RIVM health institute said it found Omicron in samples dating from November 19 and 23. That means, the findings predate the positive cases found in some Spanish travelers tested in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. It also means that Omicron has been in Europe before it was discovered in South Africa.
Thus, to many, the travel bans, the seeming safety measure targeting African countries, that Western countries are hurriedly implementing, rings more of racism, stigma and discrimination than a preventive approach. It is more like the Western countries have been waiting for the opportunity to implement anti-Africa immigration policies, and the Omicron variant has handed it to them on a platter of gold.
The World Health Organization (WHO), in its latest guidance, urged countries to use “a risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures in a timely manner.”
Against this advisory is what looks like a coordinated effort to make covid-19 an African pandemic, and thus isolate the entire continent on that basis. There have been more than 167 cases reported in over 15 EU countries. In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said the variant has been found in about 15 states. But none of the countries in those regions has been added to the red list.
Africa is fast becoming the covid scapegoat. Spanish newspaper La Tribuna, on Nov. 28, published a cartoon of a South African branded Omicron-filled canoe, sailing toward the West. In the same vein, a German newspaper had published a story depicting coronavirus as an African disease following the discovery of Omicron in South Africa. But the West was swift to oppose former U.S. President, Donald Trump’s description of covid as “China virus.”
It is not the first time the U.K. is towing the covid discriminatory path even though Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, like other African countries, has had fewer Covid cases. Nigeria has only 2,980 covid deaths compared with U.K.’s 145,605 as of Sunday Dec. 5. In early October, the U.K. omitted Nigeria from its list of countries with valid covid vaccine certificates, a decision it quickly reversed following a backlash.
As more affluent nations jump the travel ban bandwagon, the WHO is concerned that it will stymie global cooperation against the Omicron variant by delaying the sharing of laboratory samples from South Africa that could help research into the new strain.
The UN health agency said so far, there is no report of death from Omicron. Newsweek reported that as of Saturday, no one with the Omicron variant in the U.S. has been hospitalized. South African scientists described the symptoms as mild, showing no serious threats. They said so far, no one with the variant has the need for oxygen.
Emboldening the anti-vaxxer
Besides lack of equity in vaccine distribution, apathy toward vaccination has been identified as an obstacle to the goal to eliminate covid-19. Against this backdrop, the travel restrictions are coming off as a timely alibi for the anti-vaxxer.
“If the vaccinated people don’t have advantage in traveling to other countries during covid-19 ban, then you are helping anti-vaxxers spread their conspiracy theories,” Sola, a concerned Nigerian noted.
Vaccine passports have been increasingly part of global economic recovery, as countries make it part of compulsory entry requirements. However, as more developed countries roll out their Omicron-based travel restrictions, vaccination becomes to many, an exercise to enrich vaccine makers.
“Those Ikoyi and Lekki DNC people abusing us for not taking the vaccine are having a reality check. It’s never been about science. It’s been politics,” an anti-vaxxer said. “You will keep taking boosters until big pharma decides that they’re tired of making money from the virus.”
Currently, research is ongoing on the efficacy of vaccines against Omicron variant, but the WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that “vaccines will still protect against severe disease as they have against other variants.” There is optimism that booster shots will offer adequate protection against the newest strain. But now the optimism is being dampened by the travel bans.