Saturday, December 4th 2021
“This is big nonsense”
Entry rules do not protect against Omikron
An analysis by Nicole Macheroux-Denault, Cape Town
According to experts, Germany’s rules for entry from southern Africa fail to protect the population from the new Corona variant. In addition, they are causing great economic damage in the countries – for which the global north will soon have to pay.
Just a few hours after South African researchers announced the discovery of the new omicron variant, the skies over southern Africa were cleared. Flight bans, travel restrictions, quarantine requirements. On the flight radar, the world was suddenly divided in two. There is hardly a clearer picture of the consequences of the international Omikron panic. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” tweeted leading South African scientists desperately. Don’t shoot the messenger! It stayed silent. Instead, the scientists received death threats by email from South Africans.
“The tenor was that we had done a lot of damage to South Africa’s economy,” says Wolfgang Preiser. The virologist from Frankfurt has headed the Faculty of Medical Virology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa for over 16 years. Together with his colleagues from the Network for Genomics Observation, he discovered the new Omikron variant. The police have opened an investigation into the death threats. South Africa feels pilloried and is punished for doing a very good job. “One must not forget that this variant would of course also have been discovered in Hong Kong and in Israel in other countries. But the longer you wait, the sooner these new variants can spread,” said Preiser.
Scientists around the world agree: travel restrictions are not an effective way to stop a virus from spreading. Rigorous mask wear and vaccinations are much more effective against Omikron. “It’s scientifically proven,” says Ambrose Talisuna, regional director of the World Health Authority’s emergency health program. “I ask all nations to adhere to our corresponding directive, which is based on Article 43 of the WHO regulations: Health measures should be based on evidence.”
Safari safer than Christmas market
Almost apologetically, government representatives in Berlin, London and Washington praised South Africa for their good work. But what does that help? Each of these nations has imposed draconian entry and transport bans. The majority of tourists in southern Africa come from the USA, Great Britain and Germany. The economic damage is immense and, above all, unjustified. The tourism industry finally had bookings again after two years of ebb.
Now only mass cancellations remain, although traveling to safari areas in Namibia, South Africa or Botswana is entirely safe. There is always more space than at any Christmas market in Germany. But who can afford quarantine for 14 days after returning home? Germany’s measure is intended to convey security, but it does not protect against the spread of the Omikron variant. On the contrary.
“That is big nonsense. A short quarantine phase with repeated testing would in my opinion be a better instrument to ensure the greatest possible safety,” says Professor Preiser. Why? This can be seen in other countries where routine screening during quarantine has discovered omicron cases. “Some of these are patients who were not sick. They were vaccinated and yet infected. You don’t discover them if you put them in quarantine, as in Germany, and say: If there are any signs of illness, please test,” said the 56-year-old virologist.
Detection by means of a PCR test
“At times like this you really get to know your friends and enemies,” Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masis thundered in a CNN interview. The neighboring country of South Africa had similarly quickly shared data on a strange new variant and worked closely with colleagues in the south. That was excellent work, the goal non-profit. Clean work in a pandemic.
While the Cape of Africa was shocked to defend itself against the whipping boy image this week, laboratories all over the world began to look for omicron samples in their own country with the help of South African research results. Another South African discovery helps here: a laboratory operator noticed that the PCR test from the popular manufacturer Thermo Fisher does not show the S gene for the Omikron variant. The background is complicated, but the effect is easy to understand: Unlike all other previous variants, the Omikron variant can be detected quickly and inexpensively with this PCR test. Every sample still has to be sequenced, but you have a quicker overview of outbreaks and you can act more quickly. Of course, cases are now found in numerous omicron variants.
“I don’t know whether other countries that also do good surveillance sat on undetected cases?” Says Preiser. “I think that would come out sooner or later. But it is quite conceivable that the starting point is actually not with us in South Africa, but that it was brought here and discovered by us.” Numerous clusters of young partygoers brought to light the Omikron cases in South Africa. “Exactly how it should be,” says Preiser. Numerous samples older than those in South Africa and Botswana have now been sequenced outside of Africa.
Flaws in South African DNA
“We don’t know where the Omikron variant originated,” warns Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi, a high-ranking virologist in the World Health Organization. The fact is: On November 25th, 2021, when Omikron was crushed like a flaw in the South African DNA by the world public, the worrying variant was already circulating in Europe. Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has since announced that the first four Omicron patients in his country were diplomats arriving from Europe.
In this light it almost seems as if southern Africa has been punished twice. The fourth Corona wave, which is driven by Omikron, is now spreading much faster than the previous one in South Africa. The curve is alarmingly steep and reports of high numbers of children under four being admitted to hospitals are worrying. There are also numerous people who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered with breakthroughs. This is a hard blow because only a third of the population in South Africa is vaccinated. There is now enough vaccine, but access to it was late because the countries that are now imposing travel restrictions and damaging South Africa’s economy had been hoarding vaccine for a long time. It’s a never-ending story.