South Africa on Friday responded to global
travel restrictions imposed on the country since the new variant of the
coronavirus was detected in Pretoria. “Unjustified”, “draconian” and
“counterproductive” were some of the words used by South Africa’s Health
Minister Joe Phaahla in response to the travel ban by countries like the US,
UK, Germany, India and others, reported Reuters.

The new variant, named Omicron by the World
Health Organisation (WHO), has been termed a “variant of concern”
that has caused stock market disruptions across the world.

The Omicron variant has also been detected
in Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel.

“We believe that some of the reactions have
been unjustified,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla told reporters, accusing leaders
of “finding scapegoats to deal with what is a worldwide problem”.

Decision against the WHO

The European Union has also recommended a
complete suspension on flights to and from African countries where the Omicron
variant was detected.

However, the WHO on Friday said imposing
travel restrictions at this stage was an immature decision. The United Nations’
health agency said that it could take several weeks to find out whether the
newly discovered mutations made the virus more virulent or transmissible.

Phaahla said that bans were “a wrong
approach – it is misdirected and goes against the norms and advice by the WHO”.
The travel ban has sent shockwaves in the South African tourism industry which
was looking forward to the festive season.

As travel restrictions were imposed on
Friday by several countries, thousands of people gathered at Johannesburg
airport in a desperate attempt to return home.

“It’s unfair, it’s unjustified, it’s abrupt
and it’s not good for tourism for South Africa,” said a passenger.

“Knee-jerk reaction”

Phaala said South Africa had a lower
infection rate than “some of the countries … now reacting in this draconian
manner”.

South Africa reported nearly 3,000 daily coronavirus cases
on Friday, up from approximately 300 daily cases two weeks ago.

“That kind of reaction is knee-jerk and
panic,” he said, warning that such responses could prompt countries to shy away
from reporting new findings

“It’s a very counterproductive reaction
because what it says is if you have the capability to do genomic sequencing and
have a high level of efficiency … those capabilities must be driven
underground,” said Phaahla. People will “feel that it is a risk to disclose”
their findings, he argued.