United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to world leaders who have decided to apply new restrictions on travel from southern Africa due to the Ormicron variant.

This Monday, the secretary-general of the United Nations said he was deeply concerned about the isolation to which southern African countries are being subjected due to the emergence of Omicron.

For António Guterres, "the bet must be through other measures, and I call on all governments to consider repeating tests on travelers, as well as [applying] other measures that are more appropriate and truly effective, with the aim of avoiding the risk of transmission, but at the same time allowing travel."

"The African people cannot be held responsible for the immorally low level of vaccines available in Africa, and should not be penalized for having identified and shared essential scientific and health information with the world," argues the UN Secretary-General.

The Omicron variant, initially detected in South Africa, has now been identified in several countries and, according to the WHO, appears to pose an increased risk of reinfection compared to other variants of concern in circulation, such as Delta. For now, the effects of Omicron on transmissibility, disease severity, and immunity remain an unknown.