The African Union (AU) has condemned and called for the lifting of travel bans on Southern African countries, most notably South Africa, following the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The variant was detected and announced by South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in November and was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation soon thereafter – leading to countries across the globe closing their borders to travellers from South Africa and the region.
In a statement on Tuesday, the AU highlighted that the travel bans have a multi-layered impact on countries from the Southern African region.
“These travel and entry bans…lead to: adverse impact on the economy which will negatively affect the lives and livelihoods of populations concerned. [They also lead to] limited capacity to access essential medical supplies needed to respond to the ongoing upsurge of cases in South Africa [and] limited capacity for Southern African…
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