Africa-Press – Mozambique. A plane chartered by the Spanish government left Maputo on Thursday with 122 passengers, including 65 Spaniards and 15 Portuguese, stranded in Mozambique due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, a diplomatic source in Madrid told Lusa.
On the other hand, the Spanish embassy in the Mozambican capital said the repatriation flight from Maputo to Madrid was carrying 150 passengers of 15 nationalities stranded in Mozambique due to the closure of borders.
In the statement, the Spanish embassy said the plane had left Maputo with Spaniards, Mozambicans and people of other nationalities living in that country, as well as passengers from the European Union, “whose flights were cancelled.
The Spanish government decided to charter the plane to repatriate Spanish tourists and business people stranded in Mozambique with the cancellation of flights due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus detected in South Africa.
“None of the Spaniards will be stranded. We will spare no time or effort to bring them all back home,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday when he announced the repatriation flight.
The discovery of the new variant of the coronavirus, identified as B.1.1.529 and named with the Greek letter Omicron by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was announced on Thursday by South African scientists and health authorities and has many mutations.
Numerous countries around the world have confirmed cases of this variant and imposed major restrictions on international flights with southern Africa.
On Tuesday, the Spanish cabinet approved extraordinary measures to prevent the spread and contagion of the new variant of the coronavirus (Omicron), limiting flights from South Africa, Botswana, Essuatíni (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The measure extends until 15 December 2021, a period that may be extended if necessary depending on the situation and the Covid-19 pandemic and decisions that may be taken in a coordinated manner in the European Union (EU).
With these limitations, only flights from these seven countries occupied by citizens of Spain or the Principality of Andorra and residents of these territories are generally allowed.
Portugal has also limited flights with Southern Africa and will carry out repatriation flights from Friday.
Covid-19 has caused at least 5,223,072 deaths worldwide, among more than 262.93 million infections by the new coronavirus recorded since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest assessment by the Agence France-Presse.
A new variant, Omicron, was recently detected in South Africa, and 19 cases have been identified in Portugal so far.
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