{"id":6383,"date":"2021-11-29T13:25:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T13:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face"},"modified":"2021-11-29T14:50:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T14:50:16","slug":"world-slams-door-in-namibias-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face","title":{"rendered":"World slams door in Namibia’s face"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>ALMOST 40 countries have closed their doors to southern African countries, including Namibia and its neighbour South Africa, amid widespread panic over the new Covid-19 variant, called Omicron.<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite recording a number of cases throughout the continent, the entire European Union (EU) has banned the entry of southern African residents soon after South Africa’s announcement that it had detected a new variant.<\/p>\n

South Africa reported the new variant to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday, while Botswana, Israel, and Hong Kong recorded cases soon after.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning,\u201d the WHO said in a statement on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,\u201d the WHO said.<\/p>\n

Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services in a separate statement said the country is currently undertaking genome sequencing tests to establish whether Omicron is present in Namibia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry will continue to monitor the situation, including increasing its surveillance by subjecting positive samples to regular genome sequencing for possible identification of any variant of concern and interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry will be updating the nation accordingly as it monitors this development,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n

Minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula over the weekend told The Namibian the Cabinet is monitoring the situation closely and will take the necessary steps to protect Namibians.<\/p>\n

Deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said the travel ban to and from various countries is unfortunate, saying these countries took \u201cdrastic\u201d decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the WHO, which is the principal adviser on health matters, has not pronounced itself along those lines, but they have taken that decision,\u201d she said over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Nandi-Ndaitwah said Namibians are stranded in several countries and cannot return home. \u201cThe tourism industry is picking up now that they are closing their borders. It has that impact. The lives of the people need to be safe. Livelihood is equally important.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see how to strike a balance,\u201d she said. Countries need to share information and collaborate, Nandi-Ndaitwah said. She encouraged Namibians to get vaccinated to save their own lives. ‘UNACCEPTABLE’<\/p>\n

Dr Ayoade Alakija of the Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance believes if Covid-19 was first detected in Africa, the world would have cut off Africa and would not have developed vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad the first Covid case originated in Africa, it is now clear that the world would have locked us away and thrown away the key. There would not have been an urgent need to develop a vaccine, because it would have been dispensable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica would be known as a Covid continent,\u201d she says. Alakija says the current circumstances are due to the world’s failure to vaccinate urgently and equitably.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a result of the hoarding by high-income countries in the world. Quite frankly, it is unacceptable. These travel bans are based on politics and not on science,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The most recent country to join the EU’s flight bans is Namibia’s neighbour Angola, which is shutting its borders to the country as of 1 December. According to media reports, this measure was announced by Angola’s minister of state, Ad\u00e3o de Almeida.<\/p>\n

MISS NAMIBIA OFF TO ISRAEL The discovery of the Omicron variant has resulted in the participation of southern African beauty queens, including Miss Namibia Chelsi Shikongo, at the upcoming Miss Universe pageant being in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Shikongo and Miss South Africa 2021, Lalela Mswane, are due to take part in the Miss Universe 2021 pageant at the Israeli coastal resort Eilat on 12 December.<\/p>\n

Miss Namibia co-director Umbi Karuaihe-Upi, however, yesterday confirmed that Shikongo has left for Israel. Israel is one of numerous countries, like South Africa, Hong Kong, and Botswana, that has recorded the new Omicron variant.<\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett banned travel to and from seven African countries on Friday. Under these restrictions, all African nations, except those in North Africa, were added to Israel’s ‘red list’ of high-risk countries.<\/p>\n

OMICRON IN EUROPE According to Forbes Magazine, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom have confirmed cases of the Omicron variant on Saturday as nations around the world moved to clamp down on travel to and from the African continent.<\/p>\n

Southern Africa has been banned from the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, and Singapore.<\/p>\n

Scientists in South Africa are studying the new coronavirus variant that is a cause for concern, stoking fears the country may face a potentially severe fourth wave that could spread internationally.<\/p>\n

That country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service \u2013 in a statement confirmed that a new Covid-19 variant, the B.1.1.529 variant, now named Omicron, has been detected in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-two positive cases of variant B.1.1.529 have been recorded in the country, following genomic sequencing collaborations between the NICD and private laboratories,\u201d the institute said.<\/p>\n

NICD acting executive director Adrian Puren said the data is limited and their experts are working with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what its potential implications are.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopments are occurring at a rapid pace, and the public has our assurance that we will keep them up to date,\u201d said Puren.<\/p>\n

Namibia’s cumulative Covid-19 cases stand at 129 180, and deaths at 3 573, with a recovery rate of 97,2%. On Saturday, the health ministry reported the death of a girl at least nine years old with no comorbidities. She died at a health facility on 25 November.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. ALMOST 40 countries have closed their doors to southern African countries, including Namibia and its neighbour South Africa, amid widespread panic over the new Covid-19 variant, called Omicron. Despite recording a number of cases throughout the continent, the entire European Union (EU) has banned the entry of southern African residents soon after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233,2971],"class_list":["post-6383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia","tag-namibias-face"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld slams door in Namibia's face - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ALMOST 40 countries have closed their doors to southern African countries, including Namibia and its neighbour South ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World slams door in Namibia's face\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ALMOST 40 countries have closed their doors to southern African countries, including Namibia and its neighbour South ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-29T13:25:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-29T14:50:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/img-61a4e8913f7e8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"World slams door in Namibia’s face\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-29T13:25:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-29T14:50:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\"},\"wordCount\":935,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/img-61a4e8913f7e8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\",\"Namibia's face\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/world-slams-door-in-namibias-face\",\"name\":\"World slams door in Namibia's face - 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