The Egyptian Cabinet announced on Friday night that direct flights from seven African countries would be temporarily halted in response to the spread of a new coronavirus variant. In its statement, the Egyptian Cabinet said directs flights from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, and Eswatini would be blocked and a range of measures would be introduced for any travellers arriving in Egypt from such countries via indirect flights, whether for transit or otherwise. Egypt’s decision follows the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant that has primarily appeared in those seven countries, in addition to Israel, Belgium and Hong Kong. Earlier on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new COVID-19 variant to be ‘of concern’ and named it ‘Omicron’. The WHO said that Omicron had a large number of mutations and that early evidence suggested an increased risk of reinfection and transmission rates. In its public statement, the WHO said that Omicron, known scientifically as B.1.1.529, was first detected from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021 and first reported to the WHO in South Africa on 24 November. In addition to Egypt, the European Union, Switzerland…
Egypt Bans Flights from Seven African Countries Over New COVID-19 Variant
November 27, 2021
