Turning Omicron into an opportunity for a fairer post-pandemic world

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. Reuters

The UAE's cricket team had been looking forward to playing in the Cricket World Cup League Two for the first time since January 2020. But yesterday, the team was searching for the first flight home. Covid-19 had stopped them in their tracks, again.

The sudden change comes because of a new variant of the virus, Omicron, which is taking hold in southern Africa and the rest of world. It is already ushering in new travel restrictions. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the US, the UK and many others have closed their borders to travellers from several African countries.

This is a major blow for South Africa, where the strain was first spotted. It was relying on a strong tourism season after a year in which it has suffered heavily from Covid-19 and widespread unrest over the summer.

The country's President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has first-hand experience of the need to take Covid-19 seriously. The country has registered almost 90,000 deaths from it. And yet yesterday he was critical of the decision by so many countries to ban travel to his county, calling for these measures to be lifted "immediately and urgently".

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  Indian students apply the finishing touches to paintings created to raise awareness of the variant in Mumbai. Reuters

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  International travellers wearing personal protective equipment arrive at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport as Australia records its first cases of the Omicron variant. AFP

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  A greeting at the international terminal of Sydney Airport, as countries respond to the new variant. Reuters

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  A sign asking people to wear face coverings in a building in Manhattan as the newly discovered Omicron variant appears in countries around the world. AFP

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  Tourists wave as the ‘Europa’ passenger liner arrives in South African waters off Cape Town as the new coronavirus variant Omicron spreads in other countries. Reuters

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  Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Dutch health authorities said they have found another case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant among passengers arriving from South Africa, bringing the country’s total to 14. AFP

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  Pupils wear face masks in Beijing. Despite the global worry, scientists say it remains unclear whether the Omicron variant is more dangerous than other strains of the virus. AP

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  People wearing face masks in Manhattan. New York's governor has declared a state of emergency due to the risk of a surge of Covid-19 cases as winter sets in. AFP

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  British Health Secretary Sajid Javid meets a member of staff at a vaccine centre in Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London. Getty Images

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  A sign points the way to a Covid-19 test centre at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. AFP

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  Narita International Airport in Japan is quiet after travel was restricted to prevent the spread of Omicron. Reuters

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  A PCR test at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. AFP

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  Soekarno Hatta International airport. Indonesia has banned the arrival of travellers who have recently been in eight southern African countries. Reuters

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  Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok after Thailand banned entry from eight southern African countries due to the Omicron variant. Reuters

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  Travellers wear personal protective equipment outside the international terminal at Sydney Airport, Australia. Reuters

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  Passengers wearing protective gear at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, where health authorities have imposed an entry ban on foreign arrivals from eight African countries, including South Africa. EPA

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  Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. The Israeli government approved a 14-day ban on foreign arrivals over concerns about Omicron. EPA

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  Travellers queuing in the hope of boarding an overbooked Lufthansa flight at Cape Town International Airport. Antonie Robertson / The National

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  Covid-stricken Czech President Milos Zeman sits in a plastic cage as he appoints Petr Fiala as Prime Minister, near Prague. AFP

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  Tourists checking in at Cape Town International Airport in South Africa. Antonie Robertson / The National

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  Several airlines have stopped flying out of South Africa amid the spread of the new variant, causing disruption at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Reuters

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  Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Two cases of the recently discovered Omicron variant were detected in New South Wales. EPA

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  Passengers, many not wearing face coverings, on the London Underground. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said mandatory mask-wearing would return to shops and public transport in England but there are concerns over how the rule will be enforced. AFP

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  A stroll, with face masks, in Biarritz, south-western France. French Health Minister Olivier Veran said France had no confirmed cases of the Omicron variant and was not changing its strategy of increasing vaccinations and booster shots. AP

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  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty during a press conference on the variant in London. Reuters

However, caution from governments all over the world is understandable, particularly given the nature of this new strain. It is the most significant mutation of the virus to date, raising fears that it might be more transmissible than the dominant Delta variant today. It might even be that vaccines are less effective against it.

Nonetheless, Mr Ramaphosa also has a case. The medical and scientific community in his country have been similarly critical of what they view as an international overreaction. The chair of the South African Medical Association, Angelique Coetzee, has said only "very mild cases" have been spotted domestically. The foreign ministry is saying that the country is being unfairly "punished" for what is in actual fact the achievement of quickly spotting a new variant.

This discord between both camps reveals an important conundrum at the heart of dealing with the next phase of the pandemic. In its early days, the Covid-19 crisis was one of disaster control. Some governments failed to act quickly with devastating results. On the other hand, viruses necessarily mutate, and Mr Ramaphosa's argument is that a global, long-term policy should be agreed for the sake of global recovery.

The WHO's position reflects this. While it has said Omicron is a "very high" international risk, its regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, has called for countries to follow international health regulations to avoid flight bans. The same organisation that was calling on many countries to do more at the beginning of the pandemic, is, like South Africa, now calling for more nuance.

Both approaches have their merits. This fact underlies the complexity of managing the pandemic in the medium to long term, and the need for a global framework based on compromise between health and economic needs, particularly for the sake of poorer countries that have unequal access to vaccines.

There are no obvious right or wrongs in this latest saga, only evidence that international, not just national, action is needed to manage the pandemic. Covid-19 was fought first in hospitals and laboratories. Now, it must be fought with international diplomacy.