Saudi Arabia, whose proactive and comprehensive response to the Coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020 placed the Kingdom in an enviable position globally as new daily cases remain under 100 since September, is taking initial precautionary measures to the new potential threat of the Omicron variant, according to reports.
Saudi Arabia is suspending flights from 14 African countries, including South Africa, where the variant was first discovered. Saudis arriving on flights from these countries must spend 5 days in institutional quarantine, while non-Saudis must spend 14 days in quarantine in another country before entering Saudi Arabia.
All variants of COVID-19, including the Delta variant that is dominant worldwide, can cause severe disease or death, in particular for the most vulnerable people, and thus prevention is always key, the WHO says.
Omicron, or the B.1.1529 strain of the coronavirus, was marked a variant of concern on Nov. 26 by the World Health Organization, the fifth variant of concern to date. Researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron, including whether it is more or less transmissible or dangerous to those infected, and whether vaccines are as effective against the strain. As of the latest update from the WHO on Sunday, these questions are unanswered, so authorities are urging caution but not panic.
The world remains on edge since the WHO announcement after a difficult 18 months of lockdowns, travel restrictions, and fear while hope of an imminent return to normalcy fades.
“The interesting thing about omicron is that it accumulated a very high number of mutations compared to other VOCs. The total number of mutations in the spike, the most important part of the virus, was 32, 10 of which were detected that bind to receptors on human cells. That’s more than the delta variant, hence the concern,” Dr. Abdullah Algaissi, a virologist and assistant professor at the college of medical sciences at Jazan University, told Arab News.
New COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia continued to stay below the 30-mark on Sunday, with 24 new infections recorded over the past 24 hours.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said it was too soon to know the fallout from the new coronavirus variant. Fear of more travel restrictions and lockdowns hit oil markets last week, with U.S. crude falling 10% before recovering some of the losses.
OPEC and its partners (OPEC+) has moved its joint technical committee meeting to Wednesday and the joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting to Thursday to have more time in assessing the new variant’s impact, the prince told Arab News on the sidelines of an Aramco ceremony in Dhahran.
