Media: Part of the Crisis Staff will request quarantine

Media: Part of the Crisis Staff will request quarantine

Namely, as Novosti writes, the medical part of the Crisis Staff will request quarantine to be introduced for passengers from all countries where the omicron strain has been confirmed. But, since omicron is registered in many European countries, it is not certain that such a decision will be made.

It is more certain, however, that this measure will apply only to those who come from the region of South Africa, Novosti adds.

Just to recall, Dr Verica Jovanovic, director of the Institute of Public Health "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut", confirmed on Monday, for Novosti, that the institute has prepared a list of countries from which a special entry regime will apply, but could not specify when it will start to be implemented.

They did so according to the instructions of the World Health Organization, and the list currently includes seven South African countries - South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Mozambique and Malawi, and it is currently being considered how the inspection at airports or border crossings will work: PCR testing will be conducted or passengers will be sent for a 14-day home quarantine.

The list of countries where the omicron strain has been confirmed is getting longer, and many countries are already closing borders for travelers from high-risk areas. From European countries, omicron has so far, in addition to Austria, been detected by Switzerland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, while France is awaiting confirmation for eight suspicious cases...

Omicron seems to be spreading faster than all previous coronavirus variants, and it is feared that it could be more dangerous. It is not yet known whether the existing vaccines also protect against the new mutant strain.

Dr Predrag Kon, an epidemiologist and a member of the Crisis Staff, says that the appearance of a new variant of coronavirus shows the evolutionary potential of that virus, that is, that the virus will survive and will keep coming back to us.