Assumed that Covid-19 related cases were coming under some control amid increased vaccinated drive , the arrival of Omicron Variant promise to flutter the Air travel industry all over again !
As if the other Covid-19 variants were not enough, Britain, Germany and Italy confirm Omicron variant cases while other countries suspect cases of their own. Dutch airport chaos highligted the upcoming Omicron effect on the air travel across Europe.
Scientists are doing overtime to study a new covid-19 variant as several cases were spotted in Europe and governments around the world are going back to travel restrictions targeting the South African region ,where it was tested and found first.
Morocco is suspending all incoming air travel from around the world starting Monday for two weeks because of the rapid spread of the new omicron variant, the Foreign Ministry announced Sunday.
זן האומיקרון | מרוקו הודיעה כי בעקבות התפשטות הווריאנט, החל ממחר יושעו הטיסות הישירות לממלכה למשך שבועיים@kaisos1987
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The ministry tweeted that the decision was taken to “preserve the achievements realized by Morocco in the fight against the pandemic, and to protect the health of citizens.” It noted the spread of omicron in Africa and Europe.
Face masks will be made mandatory in shops and on public transport in England from Tuesday, the UK health secretary said on Sunday, under fresh measures designed to contain the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
In the mean while India has revised it's Travel guidelines as follows ,
Omicron , the new variant first detected in Botswana, sent Europe into high alert after cases were detected in the United Kingdom , Germany , Italy and Belgium. The Czech Republic, Austria, Israel and the Netherlands were all investigating suspected cases of the variant , in the eve of Festivals ahead.
Very little is known about Omicron. It has mutations that scientists fear could make it more infectious and less susceptible to vaccines , though neither of these effects has yet to be established. Most confirmed cases of the variant are contained to southern African countries, but there are worries Omicron could have spread more widely before scientists there discovered it.
As the United States and European countries close their borders over fears over the variant , many South Africans say they feel as if they are being “punished” for alerting global health authorities.
On Saturday evening, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that to curb the spread of the variant, face masks would be required in stores and on public transportation, a rule the country had ended in July.
“As always, I must stress this, with a new variant there are many things we just cannot know at this early stage,” Mr. Johnson said.
“It does appear that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated,” he added. Although the science around Omicron is still new, it is a “very extensive mutation” of previous configurations of the virus that could reduce vaccine effectiveness, Mr. Johnson said.
“In those countries, the first wave of infections after countries began reopening were mostly among the unvaccinated,” he told reporters last week. “Then infections gradually expanded to the group with waning immunity after getting vaccinated. Now we are seeing countries in Europe and, needless to say, the United States, struggle very hard to return to normalcy.”
