‘You’ve got to prepare for the worst’: World responds to new variant’s arrival

November 28, 2021

© Denis Farrell/AP A gas station attendant stands next to a newspaper headline in Pretoria, South Africa, on Nov. 27, 2021. On Saturday, covid-19 cases caused by the omicron variant were confirmed or suspected in a widening circle of nations, including Britain and Germany. “This latest round of travel bans is akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker. The World Health Organization said the first confirmed omicron infection came from a specimen collected Nov. 9. Immunity is rarely absolute, and a vaccinated or infection-recovered person potentially can get an infection from the dominant delta variant.