France upholds South Africa flight ban

France has extended the ban on flights from seven southern African countries until December 4 amid the spread of omicron, the new coronavirus strain, Minister of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune said, Report informs.

Recently, eight suspected cases of infection with the new omicron coronavirus strain have been identified in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the B.1.1.529 strain of coronavirus found in southern Africa with the Greek letter omicron. This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are of concern to WHO. Several changes at once in the spike protein of the virus can potentially make it difficult to neutralize the pathogen with antibodies, which may affect the effectiveness of vaccines. In addition, the omicron strain has the potential to spread faster than others.

The omicron strain has already been found in many countries – the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy and others.