oh, oh and i'm at home stories, them, asia and the pacific. analogies. yeah, lou, this is al jazeera. ah, it's just got an $1800.00 g m t 9 p. m. here in dough har. i'm come all santa maria with the news out from al jazeera. there's a growing list of countries confirming their 1st cases of a new ami kron karone of ours barons. and more of them imposing travel bands to manage the spread of very neo money. on the fire in ethiopia as afar regional does he regains exclusive access to the front

line of an escalating conflicts. i will protest from the french caribbean, territories of guadalupe and moxon each against man to treat vaccinations by monroe below in the 100 capital there was he on but were general elections could be taking the country in a new political direction. i'm ganache with sport, legal, messy and spies, parents on him, and he'll come back when the french stay at manchester city. lat, with west ham becomes a spot the ball competition as heavy snow english premier league. ah, we're going to start with getting your right up to date with the latest developments around this new coven, 19 barons on mac, or on just a heads up. though we are expecting a briefing from the south african president, cyril roma. paul said from pretoria, at some point in this new song, we will take you to that when it happens 1st, the netherlands,

where health officials have confirmed the strain the new strain. among 13 passengers from south africa, they were on 2 passenger flights that came from cape town in johannesburg. with nearly 600 people on board that was on friday. more countries are imposing travel bands and restrictions as well. morocco is suspending all inbound flights for 2 weeks. israel shut its borders to all foreigners. and this is creating a lot of anger about the travel band, south africa in particular, which says it is being unfairly targeted for sharing data about the variance. let's take you to south africa now the south african present several rubber porter addressing the nation, austria, denmark. and these are the, any identification of this variant is the result of the excellent work done by our scientists in south africa. and it's a direct result of the investment that our science and innovation, as well as the health departments have made in our, you know,

make surveillance capabilities. we are one of the countries in the world that set up a surveillance network throughout the country to help us monitor the behavior of covered 19 the early detection of this variant and the work that has already gone into understanding its properties. and possible effects means that we are better equipped to respond to the variant we pay tribute to our scientist who a world renowned and widely respected and have demonstrated that they have a deep knowledge of epidemiology. there are a number of things that we already know about this variant on the crop as a result of the work,

our scientists have been doing on genome surveillance. firstly, we now know that ami curren has far more mutations than any previous variant. secondly, we know that ami con is readily detected by the current covered 19 tests. this means that people who are showing covered 19 symptoms or have been in contact with someone who is covet, 19 positive, should still get tested. thirdly, we know that this variant is different from other speculating variance, and that it is not directly related to the delta or the dieter variance. fourthly, we know that the variant is responsible for most of the infections found in how den

over the last 2 weeks. and it's now showing up in all other provinces in our country, there are still a number of things about the very end that we do not know yet. and that our scientists in south africa and elsewhere in the world are still hard at work to establish over the next few days and weeks. as more data becomes available, we will have a better understanding off one, whether the army kron is transmitted more easily between people and to whether it increases the risk of re infection. and 3, whether this very and causes more severe disease. and for how effective the current vaccines against this variant on the crime

they didn't if occasion of army colonel coincides with a sudden rise in covet 19 infections. this increase has been centered in how den, or though cases are authorizing in other provinces. we are seeing an average of 1600 new cases in the last 7 days compared to just 500 new daily cases in the previous week. and 275 new daily cases. the week before that the proportion of covered 19 tests that are positive as risen from around 2 percent to 9 percent in less than a week. this is extremely sharp of a rise in infections in a short space of time. if case is continue to climb,

we can expect to enter a 4th wave of infections within the next few weeks. if not sooner, this should not come as a surprise. epidemiologists and dizzy disease, more or less, have told us that we should expect a 4th wave in early december. scientists have also told us to expect the emergence of new variance. there are several concerns about the army kron variant and who are still not sure exactly how it will behave going forward. however, we already have the tools that we need to protect ourselves against it. we know enough about the very end to know what we need to do to reduce transmission

and to protect ourselves against severe disease as well as death. the 1st, which is the most important, we have a powerful tool called vaccination. so the 1st covet, 19 vaccines became available last year. we have seen how vaccines have dramatically reduce severe illness, hospitalization, and death in south africa. and indeed across the world. vaccines do work. and vaccines are saving lives, century launched our public bucks a nation program in may of this year, over 25000000 vaccine doses have been administered in south africa. this is a remarkable achievement. it is, as one said, by far the most extensive health intervention undertaken in the

history of this country in such a short space of time. 41 percent of the adult population have received at least one box in dot's and 35.6 percent of adults. south africans are fully vaccinated against covered 90. significantly, 57 percent of people age 60 years and older are fully vaccinated and 53 percent of people aged between 50 and 60 are also fully vaccinated. while this is welcome progress, it is not enough to enable us to reduce infections to prevent illness, and also to prevent death and to restore our economy.

vaccination again for covered 19 is free. as we all know. tonight, i'd like to call on every person who has not been vaccinated to go to the nearest vaccination station without delay. if there is someone in your family or among your friends who is not vaccinated, i call on you to encourage them to get vaccinated. we still have too many people who are expressing doubt and who are resisting to be vaccinated. this is the time for us to go and get vaccinated. boxes. nation is by far the most important way to protect yourself and those around you against the army. kron variant to reduce the impact of the 4th wave and to help restore the social freedoms we

already in for bucks a nation is also vital to the return of our economy to full operation, to the resumption of travel and to the recovery of vulnerable sectors like tourism and hospitality. the development of the vaccines we have against covered 19 has been made possible thanks to the millions of ordinary people who have volunteered to participate in the childs that have been had to advance antipathy, acknowledge for the benefit of humanity. they are the people who have proven that these vaccines are safe and effective. these people, our heroes. they joined the ranks of health workers who have been at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, foreclose into 2 years,

and who continued to care for the sick, who continue to administer vaccines and who continue to save lives. we need to be thinking about the people who have been courageous when we consider getting vaccinated by getting vaccinated. we are not only protecting ourselves, but we are also reducing the pressure or no health care system and our health care workers and reducing their risks faced by our health care workers as well. so the africa, like a number of other countries, is looking at booster vaccines for people who are at greatest risk and for whom a booster may be beneficial. healthcare workers in this is so good trial, many of whom, who have vaccinated more than 6 months ago. i being offered johnson and jonathan

booster dozes, pfizer has filed an application to the south african have products, the regulator authority for a 3rd dose to be administered after their to those primary series. the ministerial advisory committee on vaccines has already indicated that it will recommend a staged introduction of boosters commencing with the older population. other people with immunodeficiency such as those on cancer treatment right now. dialysis and on the steroids. treatment for auto immune diseases allowed booster doses on recommendation of their doctors as individuals, as companies and as government. we have

a responsibility to ensure that all people in this country can work, travel and socialize safely. we have therefore, been undertaking engagements with social partners and other stakeholders on introducing measures that could make vaccination a condition for access to work places, public events, public transport, and public establishment, sell africans, president cyril rum, up also addressing his nation on the issue of the army kron variant which has, while it didn't come from south africa, but it was 1st identified by scientists in south africa. people who he says, i've joined the ranks of the health heroes of this pandemic for the work they've done, prisoner and the forces as this new variant is responsible for most of the cases that we've seen and how tank province in south africa, which is small. it's only one and a half percent of the country size,

but it includes johannesburg inventories, that's got a quarter of the population out there. and he says, in coming weeks, we should know where the army crown causes more severe disease or not. but that's, that africa could be facing a 4th wave within weeks if cases continue to rise. so that's what we're hearing from the south african president. of course, part of what he's talking about is the issue of south africa being effectively shut off. and other countries in southern africa being shut off from the rest of the world have decided to put in travel bands. lot of that's happening in europe. nave . barker has this report on the situation across the continent from land. the on the con, variance is in europe with every passing hour. more cases are detected with a single largest number of infections found on to flight that arrived here at amsterdam shipple airport on friday from cape town, and johannesburg of the 624 passengers on board. $61.00 tested positive for cove at 19. the more than a dozen half the omicron variant,

all and now isolating all the percent 100 percent of the people who return from southern africa will be contacted. we also asked the municipalities to visit 100 percent of the people at home to check whether they are really isolating the on the corn variance now being identified in germany, italy, the u. k. denmark, belgium, chet, republic, and austria with case is likely to be circulating in france according to the french government. the urge a message from brussels couldn't be any clearer vaccinate vaccine night vaccinate boost, boost, boost as much as possible. because this boosting of vaccination arrays us a level of antibodies and stimulates the memory cells for coverage of viruses. therefore, this is the police of the immune system. the europe wide response has been to restrict flights from several southern african countries and introduce mandatory testing of people arriving from abroad. travelers coming here to the u. k will have

to quarantine for 10 days at their own expense. moves some scientists believe won't be effective in stopping the spread. it's complicated, not you to imagine that you're going to be able to prevent the discretion of to be agent as resorting to the case is an example. in belgium, we entered the traveling belgium. i ended up with the gate and she had absolutely no direct contact with anyone from southern africa. scientists in italy have produced the 1st image of the variant that has more mutations in spite proteins, the part that interact with human cells compared with the highly infectious delta variance. in the absence of any hard data on how wide spread overland the alma chron, variant is, or indeed any information on whether or not existing vaccines conferred degree of immunity against it. scientists are urging caution due to marched by way of new restrictions, and it could have a negative impact on europe's economies due to little. and it could take the

pandemic in a dangerous new direction. if baka, al jazeera london mentioned to israel a while ago, which is banning all foreigners from entering the country for 2 weeks. and even its returning citizens will now need to quarantine the cabinets. also approved controversial phone monitoring technology to trace people infected with the on the chrome variance hurry force that reports from occupied east jerusalem getting in. well the getting was good. sunday was the final day of relatively unrestricted arrivals at israel's main airport. new rules mean no foreigners save those with special exemptions will be allowed into the country in the world cautious response to the army cron variant is ready returning home. we'll have to koren team for 3 days. it's vaccinated. 7 days, if not, and be diverted to quarantine hotels. if they've been to read list countries in africa, at the weekly cabinet donuts for the 100 holiday, while ministers voted on measures destined to ruin many holiday plans shoved. had

dick. but now we need to tighten up our borders in order to keep israel open internally. i understand that we need to change vacation destinations and go into isolation on return. this happens in my family as well. restrictions on the countries borders is not an easy step, but it's a temporary, necessary step. in another controversial move, the security service will once again trace transmission by monitoring people's phones. although, unlike earlier in the pandemic, the government says this will be reserved for confirmed cases of the army chrome variant. they made it impactable list, of course will be 1st felt in the tourism industry, not just in israel, but here and occupied east jerusalem. and in the occupied west bank as well, a tentative recovery built on the reopening of the borders to tourist just a little bit earlier this month has not been thrown into doubt to receive all ready arrived can finish their trips with soon the supply of customers will dry up again, it was the beginning that was the beginning of what we hoped to be the return of

the tourist industry and the return of tourist to, to israel. and again, this is another clap in the face, further into jerusalem's old city shopkeepers who'd only just reopened a contemplating bringing down the shutters. again, i don't think is where i thought because 1st of all, this could be looking everywhere around the world. not only in this country and for the tourist who got in height and concerns about getting back out. this is not good news, partially because i hope we can go home. which is a problem with the planes that are coming year. i don't know if that got to go back the governments message, but it closed the board is early and reopen off the 2 weeks and close them late and regretted. recent experience, though, tells of temporary restrictions being stretched well beyond the end dates few here . a betting that the tourists will be back soon, are equal sit, i'll just 0 occupied east jerusalem. so i me, kron, we've been saying it a lot. what do we actually know? well, it was 1st reported to the world health organization from south africa that happened

on wednesday. it has more than 30 mutations on the spike, approaching those bits around the viruses, the bits which actually invade ourselves if you like. and it means it, spite protein is dramatically different from the original current of ours. that's for sure. but what that means for the effectiveness of current vaccines currently unclear. and maybe it's that lack of clarity which is leading to lot of panic right now. you know, there is a lot of talk about where the people and, and that scientists, doctors, politicians, media are in fact panicking too much about only con, given how little we know. it's definitely a 2 edged sword. none of us want another delta on our hands, but think about what the experts are saying. people like marie of and cook of from the world health organization or the 1st thing she says in this tweet, please keep perspective we have on a chron. don't forget though, delta is dominant world wide, and people are dying unnecessarily because we don't have vaccine equity. here is david dowdy, who's from johns hopkins university,

which we quote so often is it possible microns and expect thing? yes, but is it probably far more likely that it's not also? yes, another thing, the important thing he says here, scientists have a duty not to oversell and we are doing exactly that. he is criticizing some of his colleagues, maybe not where he works, but certainly around the world who are, in some cases, maybe scare mongering. angry cats is a professor at the harvard university and she point soon, several rama pasa was referencing this earlier south africa itself. he said, she says, we know what we know about that because south africa has invested in advance genomic sequencing. we are them a debt of gratitude, not punishment, backed up by toyota rivera, who's in the center for epidemic response and innovation that the group which actually discovered this in south africa. he says, the will should provide support to south africa and africa, and not discriminate. or isolated to give my site a rough highlighting there if you want some other perspective and perspective is

what i think we always want here next. strong dot. org is always good. i like to use this on this graph. a little confusing. let me try to explain it. i think this is the entire pandemic, all of a covert 19. that's the beginning. you know, what? let me change the pin on that. that's the beginning there. the sound of the current virus and everything else you're seeing are branches and variance of it all of this over here. that's beta, right? all of this, these 3 are actually delta or it's not just one strain of delta. there are 3 prominent ones. and on you, on, on the current is just this small one over here. there is still so much for us to learn about that while in the grand scheme of things, small variance, someone who can explain this in a lot more detail and with a lot more. kudos behind here is dr. caitlin jet. alina is an assistant professor of epidemiology with the school of public health at the university of texas health science center in houston. thank you so much for your time, dr. what i've tried to point out there in my own ways that we just don't know

enough and that is, that is a problem, isn't it? because we don't know enough now. and even the w h, i was saying, well, we'll know more in a couple of weeks time, so let's not panic yet. but i guess countries are worried about losing 2 weeks. they are not getting a jump on this thing. yeah, i understand the worry bay. good science takes time. we have to engineer this fires. we have to let it grow in the lab in order to test it against how well our vaccines are going. we can't rash that asked us. and we don't want to rush in, so patients is going to be a very today's, the 1st few weeks. so the problem being that we, and i guess when i say way, i'm talking more about politicians and officials have gotten into this habit of seeing something bad and saying shut it down, lock it down right now. and you would say that doesn't work. no. yeah, i travel a fuse. what countries is just not an evidence based public health approach. it's

not great policy. it may seem like travel, the ends for individual countries make sense and maybe they think that it's a necessary step. but they just don't work. they are more policy, they're a political move tool to show that the public is responding. but chance can do a lot of damage though, right? perpetuate disease related stigma. and we have to be very careful with that because if it wasn't for south africa was really swift, response of thousands of scientists wouldn't be working in decoding this threat as we speak. so where is, i don't know if there is an answer to this, but where is the middle ground? if the long term plan is to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate as us to live on the line was saying? and the short term is to not lock things down. what's in between, what can be done that is effective but isn't going to damage economies and frankly

upset a lot of people. yeah. you know, i think it's really important to recognize it. what you said on your show a little earlier that, you know, our house is already on fire from delta. we have a media right now. and so really none of this variance stuff changes what we need to do on an individual level right now. unless of course, you weren't doing anything before, so get back in, eating it, boost dead, have ventilated space is use mass. if you have them done at test isley, if you're positive and most important, encourage others to do the same doctor hadn't great talking to you talk to kate and jeff, lena in texas, i thank you. we really appreciate that. that perspective. i want to go back to south africa now pretoria and president,

sarah reporter who still speaking up with these countries that have imposed travel bands on our country and our other southern african sister countries too immediately and urgently vest their decisions and lifted the bands. they have imposed before any further damage is done on our economies and to the livelihoods of our people. there is no scientific justification whatsoever for keeping these restrictions in place. we know that this virus like, or viruses, does mutate and form you various. we also know that the likelihood of the emergence of more severe forms of variance is increased significantly where people are not vaccinated. that is why we have joined many countries and organizations and people around the world who have been fighting for equal access to vaccines for everyone.

we have said that the vaccine inequality not only costs lives and livelihoods in those countries that denied access by that it also affections global efforts to overcome the pandemic. the emergence of the army current very and should be a wake up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue until everyone is vaccinated. everyone will continue to be at risk until everyone is vaccinated. we should expect that more variant will keep on emerging. these variance may well be more transmissible, may cause more severe disease and may be more resistant to the current vaccines. instead of prohibiting travel. the rich countries of the world need to

support the efforts of developing countries, economies that is to access and to manufacture enough vaccine doses for their people without delay. but south africans, the emergence of the american variant and the recent rise in cases have made it clear that we will have to live with his virus for some time to come. as i have been, say, we have the knowledge, we have the experience, and we have the tools to manage this pandemic to resume many of our daily activities and to rebuild our economy. we have the ability to determine the path. our country will take every one of us needs to get back to nate. it i'm repeating about vaccination because it is

the best 2 that we have. and i'm also saying to those who are doubtful that vaccines a safe, they're been proven to be so, and they save lives. every one of us needs to practice the basic health protocols get vaccinated, get vaccinated is what the south african president tells his people, reminding them that they are safe. he knows there is hesitancy out there and reminding them that this is the best weapon we have against the army con variant. against all of covert. 19 said africa president, cyril rum, a poster speaking our correspondent in johannesburg is family to miller. and he said that there is no scientific justification whatsoever for keeping these travel bands in place at unequivocal about that and the damage that it could do to south

africa. and essentially the key statement from the president.