INTERNATIONAL: Several countries around the globe have already reported confirmed cases of Covid-19 Omicron variant. This has led to travel restrictions to some fearing that the variant may create another surge of Covid-19 cases worse than the previous variants.

The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced on Sunday that he is deeply disappointed by the decision of rich western countries and United States prohibiting travel from a number of southern African countries following their early discovery of the Covid-19 Omicron variant.

South African officials are furious about a British ban on flights from southern African countries, on which several other countries followed suit. Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on the way the virus is mutating which started in Gauteng.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of the G20 countries in Rome last month. He says the action is unfairly discriminate against South Africa and the prohibition of travel will not be effective in preventing the spread of this Omicron variant. He has added that the only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and also to recover from the pandemic.

Scientists have so far only detected the new Omicron variant in relatively small numbers, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel. But they are concerned by its high number of mutations which raised concerns that it could be more vaccine-resistant and transmissible.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has a large number of mutations with worrying characteristics, has so far been detected or suspected in multiple countries around the world, including the UK, Germany Australia, Denmark and the first case in Europe was reported in Belgium on Friday, then in Egypt.

The Omicron variant, or the B.1.1.529, was first reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa on 24 November, and the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November. Following worrying initial studies, the WHO on Friday classified the new COVID-19 strain as a “variant of concern”, naming it the "Omicron Variant" during an emergency meeting.

A day later, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in Britain – in Chelmsford and Nottingham. To curb the spread, four more countries were added to Britain's travel "red list" on Sunday: Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.

 The British government has previously added South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia to the country's travel red list.

On Saturday, Germany reported its first two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant found in the southern state of Bavaria. Moreover, 50 passengers from Cape Town who arrived on Friday are now under quarantine in Bavaria, with two of them having tested positive for the coronavirus. It remains unclear whether it is the Omicron variant, and investigation is now underway.

On 27 November Italy has also reported it detected its first case of Omicron on a traveler that recently returned from Mozambique. Dutch health authorities have confirmed that 13 cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant have been found in the Netherlands among passengers that were on two flights from South Africa that arrived on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Australian government fears that the Omicron strain might have reached Sydney. Of the 14 travelers that just landed in the country a day ago, two have been tested positive upon arrival. Canada is also closing its borders to foreign travelers who have recently been to seven southern African nations; South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. U.S. also imposes travel ban from eight African countries over Omicron variant even no cases identified so far.