Blanket travel bans will not prevent international spread of Omicron COVID variant, WHO says

In light of the current COVID-19 Omicron variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that blanket travel bans will not in fact prevent the international spread of the variant but place a heavy burden on the lives and livelihoods of citizens.

This comes in light of multiple countries imposing travel bans and enacting travel measures to prevent the spread of the heavily-mutated variant as cases begin to surface.

The international organisation has stated that blanket travel bans “can adversely impact global health efforts during a pandemic by disincentivizing countries to report and share epidemiological sequencing data,” going on to advise people over 60 or at-risk individuals to postpone their travel bans for the moment.

WHO also reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated and staying vigilant until more is known about the new variant.

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