Rise of Omicron variant underscores need to address vaccine inequity

FOR at least the next couple of weeks, the world will be holding its breath - or perhaps masking up more - as scientists race to understand the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The United Kingdom, which has hardly been a paragon of caution amid the pandemic, is reinstituting a mandatory mask rule in shops and on public transport in England. Many countries have introduced travel curbs on arrivals from countries in southern Africa where the Omicron variant has been detected, while Japan and Israel have gone further by shutting borders to all foreign arrivals.

The World Health Organization (WHO)'s regional director general for Africa has decried such travel bans as an attack on global solidarity, while the WHO has urged such restrictions to be "scientifically based".