United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that a travel ban imposed because of the Covid pandemic that cuts off any one country or region as “not only deeply unfair and punitive – they are ineffective.”, report Geo News.
Guterres said that tests should continually be performed on travelers to reduce the threat of transmission in other parts of the world.
He further added, “We have the instruments to have safe travel. Let’s use those instruments to avoid this kind, of allow me to say, travel apartheid, which I think is unacceptable.”
The new variant of the coronavirus, which was previously identified as B.1.1.529 infection was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 24 and named it Omicron.
Several countries, including Pakistan, have completely banned flights from some countries in Africa.
In African countries, the rate of vaccination was recorded as very low which Guterres has previously alarmed the world about. The main reason for the lack of vaccination was the inequality distribution of vaccines and low immunisation rates which became “a breeding ground for variants.”
The annual meeting was also held between the United Nation and African Union to solve the concern of the travel ban.
Speaking from the Joint-Conference with UN Secretary-General, African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat also said that the travel ban cannot be justified.
