From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has described as ‘harsh and unfair’ travel bans enacted against his country and its neighbours over Omicron, the new coronavirus variant.
The United Kingdom, European Union and United States are among those who have imposed travel bans on South Africa and it’s neighbours.
Omicron has been classed as a “variant of concern”. Early evidence suggests it has a higher re-infection risk.
The heavily mutated variant was detected in South Africa earlier this month and then reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) last Wednesday.
According to the World Health Organization, the variant is responsible for most of the infections found in South Africa’s most populated province, Gauteng, over the last two weeks, and the number of cases appears to be increasing in almost all province.
Speaking to newsmen alongside his Nigerian counterpart, President Muhammadu Buhari, at the end of his state visit to Nigeria, commended African countries who are standing united against the imposition of arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions that are not only unscientific, but will be counterproductive in the long run.
‘I think it is important that I emphasize this in the light of the discovery by South African scientists of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and subsequent imposition of extremely harsh and unfair travel restrictions on flights from and to South Africa as well as on a number of other African countries,’ Ramaphosa said.
‘President Buhari, the solidarity expressed by yourself and the Government of Nigeria sends the strongest message. It says that as African countries we are standing united against the imposition of arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions that are not only unscientific, but counterproductive in the long run. Indeed, the leaders of Cote d’Ivoire where we are traveling to later today, as well as the leaders of Ghana and Senegal, have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the travel ban against South Africa and our sister countries in southern Africa.
‘This is a global pandemic. And overcoming it requires that we collaborate and work together as a collective. The resulting damage to this travel ban to the economies of the countries affected will be considerable and long lasting. So, I want to use this opportunity to once again call on the countries who have imposed this ban to reverse their decisions, whether they are in the northern, more developed economies or in other parts of our continent and elsewhere,’ the South African president stated.