Members of the 27-nation EU have experienced a massive spike in cases recently.īritain, EU countries and some others introduced their travel restrictions Friday, some within hours of learning of the variant. “The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said. The S&P 500 index closed down 2.3%, its worst day since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly dropped more than 1,000 points. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially concerned scientists but did not spread very far.įears of more pandemic-induced economic turmoil caused stocks to tumble in Asia, Europe and the United States. The WHO panel drew from the Greek alphabet in naming the variant omicron, as it has done with earlier, major variants of the virus.Įven though some of the genetic changes appear worrisome, it was unclear how much of a public health threat it posed. As with other variants, some infected people display no symptoms, South African experts said. There was no immediate indication whether the variant causes more severe disease. Omicron has now been seen in travelers to Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel, as well as in southern Africa. “We must move quickly and at the earliest possible moment,” British Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers. But a jittery world feared the worst after the tenacious virus triggered a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people around the globe. Medical experts, including the WHO, warned against any overreaction before the variant was thoroughly studied. citizens and permanent residents and for several other categories, including spouses and other close family. Biden issued a declaration later Friday making the travel prohibition official, with exceptions for U.S. will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries in the region beginning Monday. In response to the variant's discovery in southern Africa, the United States, Canada, Russia and a host of other countries joined the European Union in restricting travel for visitors from that region, where the variant brought on a fresh surge of infections.
It could take weeks to know if current vaccines are less effective against it.
That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again. But early evidence suggests it carries an increased risk of reinfection compared with other highly transmissible variants, the WHO said. Omicron's actual risks are not understood. In announcing new travel restrictions, he told reporters, “I’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious.” President Joe Biden said Friday of the new variant, only a day after celebrating the resumption of Thanksgiving gatherings for millions of American families and the sense that normal life was coming back at least for the vaccinated. BRUSSELS-Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is racing to contain a new coronavirus variant potentially more dangerous than the one that has fueled relentless waves of infection on nearly every continent.Ī World Health Organization panel named the variant “omicron” and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the United States.
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