December 04 2021 - 09:54
Omicron had 'probably already spread globally', say top SA scientists as they slam travel bans
The seemingly highly transmissible Covid-19 Omicron variant has “probably already spread globally”, rendering the implementation of travel bans pointless.
This is the view of some of SA’s top scientists, who co-authored an article published in the Lancet this week.
The authors — Marc Mendelson, Francois Venter, Mosa Moshabela, Glenda Gray, Lucille Blumberg, Tulio de Oliveira and Shabir Madhi — say that the horse had long since bolted when it came to the Omicron variant, and that the travel bans implemented across the world were not only ineffective, but also did significantly more harm than good.
