By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Government says it has noted the announcement by the United Kingdom (UK) to temporarily ban all flights from the Southern parts of Africa, including South Africa, from entering the UK due to the detection of a new Coronavirus variant, B.1.1.529.
South Africa confirmed on Thursday that it has detected the new Coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 in the country.
According to the BBC, UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced on Friday that six African countries, including South Africa, would be added to the red list, with flights being temporarily banned from Friday at midday.
The other countries include Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
No cases have been identified in the UK. However, in a statement, that government said it was taking precautionary measures to protect public health and the progress made so far through their successful vaccination programme.
“The variant includes a large number of spike protein mutations as well as mutations in other parts of the viral genome. These are potentially biologically significant mutations, which may change the behaviour of the virus concerning vaccines, treatments and transmissibility. More investigation is required,” the UK government said.
While South Africa said it respects the right of all countries to take the necessary precautionary measures to protect its citizens, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said the UK’s decision seems to have been “rushed”.
“Even the World Health Organisation is yet to advise on the next steps,” said the department.
Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor said: “Our immediate concern is the damage that this decision will cause to both the tourism industries and businesses of both countries”.
According to the department, the officials will engage the UK government with the view to persuade them to reconsider the decision.
Meanwhile Japan’s government announced on Friday (26 November) that it would tighten border controls for visitors from South Africa and five other African countries after the discovery of a new variant of Covid-19.
Germany has also halted flights to the country, while the European Union will propose a halt on air travel from southern Africa and Australia and New Zealand,have adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach, with officials still assessing the threat posed by the variant.
Singapore and Israel have already announced new travel restrictions, while India has issued an advisory to all states to rigorously test and screen international travellers from South Africa and other “at-risk” countries amidst concerns over the variant.
Scientists are still unclear on how effective existing vaccines will be against the new variant, which displays mutations that might resist neutralization.
The variant shares similarities with the Lambda and Beta variants, which are associated with an innate evasion of immunity, said Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform.
“All these things are what give us some concern that this variant might have not just enhanced transmissibility, so spread more efficiently, but might also be able to get around parts of the immune system and the protection we have in our immune system,” Lessells said.