Covid-19: Brazil to close air borders to six African countries due to Omicron variant

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil officially announced that it decided to close “air borders” with six southern African countries starting Monday (29), in an attempt to prevent or delay the arrival of the new variant of Covid-19, baptized Omicron.

“We are going to protect Brazilians in this new phase of the pandemic,” said on Twitter the president’s Chief of Staff, Ciro Nogueira, specifying that the rule will be published this Saturday and that the restriction will include South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Hours before the official announcement, the health regulator Anvisa had recommended the government prohibit the entry of foreigners from these six countries. The agency’s director, Antonio Barra, even admitted that “we cannot say that there is zero chance that it is already in Brazil. The possibility of having an unidentified case exists, but so far there is none.”

He also recommended the “temporary suspension of the authorization to disembark in Brazil to foreigners who have transited through those countries in the last 14 days,” and a quarantine to Brazilians returning from that region of Africa.

The B.1.1.529 variant (Omicron), potentially highly contagious and with multiple mutations, was detected in South Africa, as announced on Thursday (25) by a group of scientists from that country, who still do not know the effectiveness of vaccines to counteract it.

Other countries and regions outside Africa, such as Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong, have already confirmed cases of the new variant.

Following the announcement, several countries – including the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Israel – decided to close their doors to travelers from several southern African states.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.), however, does not advise such measures for the time being. “It will take several weeks to understand the impact of this variant,” W.H.O. spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Friday. “Travel restrictions are not recommended at this stage,” he added.

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