Omicron to hit Africa’s economies hard as leaders protest ‘Afrophobia’
African leaders have protested the advisories, with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa saying, “The prohibition on travel will further damage the economies and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.” FILE PHOTO | COURTESY
As flight KL592 was in the air between Johannesburg and Amsterdam on November 26, the rules of the Covid-19 pandemic changed.
The spread of an alarming new variant named Omicron, first reported by South Africa, had prompted an abrupt reappraisal of the risks of international travel. The Netherlands banned entry to travellers from Southern Africa. Suddenly, those onboard KL592 were persona non-grata.
