The Indonesian government has decided to take further measures against the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, including banning the entry of travellers who have been in these eight African countries.
The countries are South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini and Nigeria.
The restriction is effective on Monday and will be evaluated every two weeks, senior ministers told a news conference on Sunday.
“Omicron has spread to more countries, so to respond to these developments, today the government wants to carry out the following policies,” Indonesia’s coordinating minister Luhut Pandjaitan said.
All other travellers entering the country will have to quarantine for seven days compared to the previous three days policy, he added.
In another part of the world, Ontario’s Ministry of Health has confirmed two cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Canada, in two individuals with recent travel records from Nigeria.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said on Sunday that Africa was not the source of COVID-19 which was first discovered in China two years ago.
Mr Adesina further requested that the continent should not be punished for the Omicron COVID-19 variant and other mutations that occur randomly anywhere in the world.
The variant – identified first in South Africa, but also discovered in Europe and Asia – is potentially more contagious than previous variants, including the Delta variant. Although experts are still gathering more information if it will cause more or less severe COVID-19 compared to other strains.
