Travel bans and other restrictions were imposed by countries throughout the world on Monday in an attempt to keep the new omicron variety at bay, despite the fact that it is unclear what this implies for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan, along with the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Russia, announced that all international tourists would be denied to enter, while additional cases of the variation discovered by researchers in South Africa just days before occurred in Hong Kong, Australia, and Portugal.

Read more: Re-intensify vaccination campaign only way to tackle Omicron: Asad Umar

Authorities in Portugal were investigating whether some of the infections could be among the first reported cases of local transmission of the variant outside of southern Africa.

The stream of new cases showed the near impossibility of keeping the genie in the bottle in a globalized world of travel and open borders.

The World Health Organization’s advice, many people attempted to do so, despite the fact that border restrictions have a limited effect and can cause havoc with people’s lives and livelihoods.

Some people suggested that such limitations could still provide crucial time for analyzing the new variation. Little is known about it, such as whether it is more contagious, more likely to cause serious disease, or more able to evade the protection of vaccines.

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