8:17 am: Border closures due to Covid “unjust, punitive and ineffective”, says Antonio Guterres
Faced with the Omicron variant, border closures are “deeply unfair, punitive and ineffective,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, denouncing a form of “apartheid” towards Africa and calling for more testing.
“With a virus truly without borders, the travel restrictions which isolate a country or a region are not only deeply unfair and punitive, they are ineffective”, he asserted during a press briefing, denouncing the “Scandal” of a condemnation of Africa for not being vaccinated enough.
Referring to South Africa, which reported the Omicron appearance on November 24 and saw borders closed to its nationals, the UN chief said countries should not “be collectively punished for having identified and shared crucial scientific and health information with the world ”. It is “unfair” and “immoral”, he repeated.
