INTERNATIONAL: World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, poses very high global risk and the world must prepare. And South Africa is paying price for the early detection of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. South African officials say that they are being punished for the good work they have done, as several countries in different parts of the world have banned flights from South African countries.

All flights to and from South Africa were summarily suspended in Britain to the absolute consternation of our southern African diaspora – many of whom live in the United Kingdom – and the absolute despair of South Africa's tourism industry, for which the overseas end-of-year tourism market is the structural spine. The predictions of the scientists who warned that the elevated transmission of the virus in areas with limited access to vaccine would speed its evolution.

The World Health Organization says on Monday that the heavily mutated Omicron coronavirus variant is likely to spread internationally and poses a very high risk of infection surges that could have "severe consequences" in some places. Although no Omicron-linked deaths had yet been reported, though further research was needed to assess its potential to escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines and previous infections, it added. In anticipation of increased case numbers as the variant, first reported last week, spreads, the U.N. agency urged its 194 members states to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups and ensure plans were in place to maintain health services.

By Tuesday, the Omicron variant had been detected in Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland and Britain. The United States, as just one example, had banned travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It’s a clear ‘Collective hysteria’ based on the reaction of politicians and the public. Whereas, society in different countries have been urging its leaders to “live with the virus” and not shut down in response to a rise in cases of the new variant.

^{PHOTO: WHO CHIEF TEDROS SAYING OMICRON UNDERLINES HOW PERILOUS AND PRECARIOUS THE SITUATION IS / GERMAN CHANCELOR MERKEL CALLING ON COUNTRIES TO BETTER FUND WHO / CEPI CEO SAYING VACCINE INEQUITY IS FERTILE ENVIRONEMENT FOR VARIANT EMERGENCE}