The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on governments to immediately rescind travel ban imposed in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
It instead asked various governments that have imposed travel restrictions to follow World Health Organization (WHO) advice which stated that travel bans would not curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
WHO advice for international traffic in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant states that:
“Blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods. In addition, they can adversely impact global health efforts during a pandemic by disincentivizing countries to report and share epidemiological and sequencing data.
“All countries should ensure that the measures are regularly reviewed and updated when new evidence becomes available on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Omicron or any other variants of concern.”
The United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have recently imposed travel restrictions on Nigeria in recent times.
IATA representing some 290 airlines carrying 83 percent of global air traffic noted that the same WHO advice also notes that states implementing measures such as screening or quarantine “need to be defined following a thorough risk assessment process informed by the local epidemiology in departure and destination countries and by the health system and public health capacities in the countries of departure, transit and arrival.”
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, stated that all measures should be commensurate with the risk, time-limited and applied with respect to travelers’ dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as outlined in the International Health Regulations.”
“After nearly two years with COVID-19 we know a lot about the virus and the inability of travel restrictions to control its spread. But the discovery of the Omicron variant induced instant amnesia on governments which implemented knee-jerk restrictions in complete contravention of advice from the WHO—the global expert,” he said.
IATA however advised governments to reconsider all Omicron measures.
“The goal is to move away from the uncoordinated, evidence absent, risk-unassessed mess that travelers face. As governments agreed at ICAO and in line with the WHO advice, all measures should be time-bound and regularly reviewed. It is unacceptable that rushed decisions have created fear and uncertainty among travelers just as many are about to embark on year-end visits to family or hard-earned vacations,” said Walsh.
