By FARAH NA­J­JAR and US­AID SID­DIQUI, Al Jazeera

■ UN warns trav­el bans are hin­der­ing the shar­ing of sam­ples from South Africa that could shed light on the new vari­ant ■

The World Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion has said trav­el bans are hav­ing an im­pact on glob­al co­op­er­a­tion against the Omi­cron coro­n­avirus vari­ant by de­lay­ing the shar­ing of lab­o­ra­to­ry sam­ples from South Africa that could help re­search in­to the new strain.

Maria Van Kerk­hove, the WHO’s tech­ni­cal lead on COVID-19, said that South African re­searchers have been keen to share in­for­ma­tion, da­ta, and sam­ples, but that trav­el bans “have caused some chal­lenges for those sam­ples to ac­tu­al­ly be shipped out of the coun­try”.

Sci­en­tists have been scram­bling to learn more about the ef­fects of the Omi­cron vari­ant, first de­tect­ed in South Africa last week. It has now been re­port­ed in at least 24 coun­tries.

While re­mains un­clear where or when the vari­ant first emerged, na­tions have rushed to im­pose trav­el re­stric­tions, es­pe­cial­ly on vis­i­tors com­ing from South­ern Africa, de­spite the WHO’s call for “ra­tio­nal” mea­sures in re­sponse to the new strain.

The first con­firmed case of the Omi­cron vari­ant in the Unit­ed States has been de­tect­ed in a per­son in Cal­i­for­nia, the US Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion said on Wednes­day.

Map: Track­ing glob­al Omi­cron trav­el re­stric­tions

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

■ More than 30 coun­tries have im­posed trav­el bans fol­low­ing the spread of the Omi­cron coro­n­avirus mu­ta­tion ■

More than 30 coun­tries have closed their bor­ders to some na­tions and oth­ers have im­posed stricter mea­sures to curb the spread of the Omi­cron vari­ant.

The new­ly de­tect­ed coro­n­avirus vari­ant has prompt­ed coun­tries to tight­en their bor­ders just as many were be­gin­ning to re­open to for­eign trav­el.

Na­tions are adopt­ing dif­fer­ing lev­els of bor­der con­trol with coun­tries such as Is­rael, Mo­roc­co and Japan clos­ing their bor­ders en­tire­ly, while oth­ers have on­ly tight­ened COVID test­ing at the bor­der.

The map be­low shows coun­tries that have im­posed trav­el bans. It will be up­dat­ed as more in­for­ma­tion be­comes avail­able.

Click link for in­ter­ac­tive map... https://pub­lic.flour­ish.stu­dio/vi­su­al­i­sa­tion/7980639

*Map - Glob­al Omi­cron trav­el re­stric­tions*

Image courtesy AL JAZEERA via FLOURISH.

*To­tal bans*

Chi­na – Chi­na al­ready had strin­gent bor­der con­trols in place, with on­ly cit­i­zens and res­i­dent per­mit hold­ers al­lowed in­to the coun­try. Hong Kong banned non-Hong Kong res­i­dents ar­riv­ing from South Africa, Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia and Zim­bab­we. On Mon­day it ex­pand­ed the list to in­clude An­go­la, Ethiopia, Nige­ria and Zam­bia, and then non-res­i­dents who had been to Aus­tralia, Aus­tria, Bel­gium, Cana­da, the Czech Re­pub­lic, Den­mark, Ger­many, Is­rael, and Italy in the past 21 days. On Wednes­day it added Japan, Por­tu­gal and Swe­den to its list.

Is­rael – Is­rael banned for­eign­ers from en­ter­ing the coun­try for 14 days. Is­raeli cit­i­zens will be able to come back to the coun­try but will need to quar­an­tine, even if ful­ly vac­ci­nat­ed.

Japan – Japan closed its bor­ders to non-cit­i­zens for one month, this in­cludes for­eign ex­change stu­dents and those trav­el­ling for busi­ness. Those with res­i­dent sta­tus from 10 African na­tions in­clud­ing South Africa are al­so banned from en­ter­ing the coun­try “for the time be­ing.”

Mo­roc­co – Mo­roc­co sus­pend­ed all in­com­ing flights for two weeks.

*Par­tial bans*

An­go­la – An­go­la an­nounced it will close its bor­ders with coun­tries in south­ern Africa in­clud­ing Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, Tan­za­nia and Zim­bab­we un­til Jan­u­ary 5.

Aus­tralia – Aus­tralia halt­ed all flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, Sey­chelles, South Africa and Zim­bab­we for at least 14 days.

Brazil – Brazil closed its bor­der to flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we.

Cam­bo­dia – Cam­bo­dia banned trav­ellers from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, Zim­bab­we, Malawi, An­go­la, and Zam­bia.

Cana­da – Cana­da banned non-cit­i­zens who have trav­elled to Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we since No­vem­ber 12.

Ecuador – Ecuador has re­strict­ed en­try from Botswana, Egypt, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we

Egypt – Egypt halt­ed di­rect flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we.

Fi­ji – Fi­ji al­ready had strict bor­der con­trols, and on­ly cit­i­zens can en­ter the coun­try.

France – France stopped flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we.

Ger­many – Ger­many has sus­pend­ed all flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, Zam­bia and Zim­bab­we.

In­done­sia – In­done­sia banned any for­eign­ers who spent the last 14 days in Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, Nige­ria, South Africa and Zim­bab­we.

Italy – Italy sus­pend­ed the ar­rival of any­one who has trav­elled to Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we in the last 14 days.

Kuwait – Kuwait halt­ed di­rect flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, Zam­bia and Zim­bab­we, with non-cit­i­zens not per­mit­ted to en­ter if they have trav­elled to those coun­tries.

Malaysia – Malaysia, which has kept its bor­ders all but sealed for much of the pan­dem­ic, has al­so an­nounced a trav­el ban cov­er­ing South Africa, Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, and Zim­bab­we.

Mal­dives – For­eign­ers who have trav­elled to or through Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we with­in the past 14 days will be de­nied en­try.

Mal­ta – Mal­ta banned trav­el to and from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we

Nether­lands – The Nether­lands has sus­pend­ed flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we car­ry­ing non-cit­i­zens.

New Zealand – New Zealand is on­ly al­low­ing cit­i­zens in­to the coun­try. Any for­eign trav­ellers from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, Sey­chelles, South Africa and Zim­bab­we will be de­nied en­try.

Oman – Oman has sus­pend­ed flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we and any­one who trav­elled to these coun­tries in the past 14 days will al­so be banned from en­try.

Pak­istan – Pak­istan closed its bor­ders to Botswana, Hong Kong, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia and South Africa.

Paraguay – Paraguay has re­strict­ed en­try from An­go­la, Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, Zam­bia and Zim­bab­we.

Philip­pines – The Philip­pines halt­ed in­bound flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we un­til De­cem­ber 15.

Poland – Poland has re­strict­ed trav­el from sev­en south­ern African coun­tries.

Rus­sia – Rus­sia sus­pend­ed en­try of non-Rus­sians who trav­elled through Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mada­gas­car, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, Tan­za­nia and Zim­bab­we.

Rwan­da – Rwan­da sus­pend­ed all di­rect flights to and from south­ern Africa.

Sau­di Ara­bia – Sau­di Ara­bia halt­ed flights from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we and non-cit­i­zens who have spent the past 14 days in the list­ed coun­tries will be barred from en­try

Sin­ga­pore – Any non-cit­i­zens from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we will be barred from en­ter­ing Sin­ga­pore.

Sri Lan­ka – For­eign­ers from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we will be barred from en­try.

Thai­land – Thai­land en­forced a trav­el ban on those from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we from De­cem­ber.

Turkey – Turkey banned ar­rivals from Botswana, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa and Zim­bab­we.

Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates – Trav­ellers from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we are re­strict­ed from trav­el­ling to the UAE.

Unit­ed King­dom – The UK added Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we to its red list.

Unit­ed States – The US re­strict­ed non-cit­i­zens from Botswana, Eswa­ti­ni, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozam­bique, Namib­ia, South Africa, and Zim­bab­we from en­ter­ing the coun­try.