WHO: Travel warning for the elderly – blanket bans criticized – Geneva
Against the background of the current corona situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on all high-risk patients and elderly people to better refrain from traveling at the moment. People aged 60 and over and people with previous illnesses such as diabetes or cancer should refrain from traveling at the moment, please contact the WHO in Geneva on Tuesday.
General travel bans such as those imposed by numerous countries were viewed critically by the WHO. These bans could “not prevent” the spread of the currently rampant omicron variant of the corona virus. They could also act negatively on the future willingness of states to submit critical health data on new variants.
Investigations on Omikron are ongoing
After South Africa announced the discovery of the Omikron variant last Thursday, numerous countries around the world imposed travel restrictions for South Africa and other countries in southern Africa.
The WHO classifies the new variant as “worrying” because of the large number of mutations. Statistics from South Africa indicate that the Omikron variant is significantly more contagious than previous variants. Scientists around the world are currently investigating whether it is also more dangerous.