South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has slammed rich Western countries for their knee-jerk imposition of travel bans following the latest Omicron coronavirus outbreak.
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South African officials are furious about a British ban on flights from southern African countries. Several other countries have followed suit.
Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on the way the virus is mutating.
"This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month," Ramaphosa said.
"The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing (it) ... will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to ... the pandemic."
South Africa has seen a near-tripling of daily reported cases in the past week, mainly of the new Omicron variant first identified by South African virologists.
Ramaphosa says the country faces a fourth wave of COVID-19 within weeks as the new Omicron variant is driving a rise in infections in the most populated province of Gauteng.
But he said authorities would not consider economic lockdown restrictions for the time being.
"If cases continue to climb, we can expect to enter a fourth wave of infections within the next few weeks, if not sooner," Ramaphosa warned, adding that South Africa was considering making COVID-19 shots compulsory for certain places and activities.
If the country did not consider the option of a vaccine mandate, it would "continue to be vulnerable to new variants and will continue to suffer new waves of infection", he said, adding vulnerable people might also be offered booster shots.
Only a quarter of South Africans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 despite a sufficient supply of doses, owing partly to logistical problems getting them out to rural areas, but also to vaccine hesitancy and apathy among the population.
Scientists have so far only detected the new Omicron variant in relatively small numbers, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel. But they are concerned by its high number of mutations, which raised concerns it could be more vaccine-resistant and transmissible.
A doctor who was among the first in the country to flag the possibility of a new variant said on Sunday, however, that its symptoms so far appeared to be mild and treatable at home.
Australian Associated Press