A British Columbia-based researcher says banning vacationers from southern African nations in an effort to cease the importation of a brand new COVID-19 variant is an instance of “wishful considering” that would do extra hurt than good.
Caroline Colijn, a mathematician and epidemiologist at Simon Fraser College, says the omicron variant has already been detected in nations outdoors of the focused area and it’s solely a matter of time earlier than it’s present in Canada.
She says South Africa is to be counseled for sequencing the omicron variant and for sharing its information with the remainder of the world.
Colijn says she worries nations comparable to Canada, that responded by imposing journey bans on southern African nations, threat disincentivizing that form of transparency sooner or later.
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Zain Chagla, an affiliate professor of medication at McMaster College, agrees that “blind closures of borders” don’t make sense.
He says the omicron variant exhibits it’s time for a extra coordinated world response to the COVID-19 pandemic targeted on making certain each particular person in each nation has ample entry to vaccines.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
