Skift Take

Pressure is mounting against re-instituting travel bans, underscoring the idea that those restrictions are just not effective. Antonio Guterres, from his high perch at the United Nations, is the latest world official to call out border closings and to make a plea for smarter, more equitable alternatives.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that travel restrictions imposed over COVID-19 that isolate any one country or region as “not only deeply unfair and punitive – they are ineffective.”

Speaking to reporters in New York, Guterres said the only way to reduce the risk of transmission while allowing for travel and economic engagement was to repeatedly test travelers, “together with other appropriate and truly effective measures.”

“We have the instruments to have safe travel. Let’s use those instruments to avoid this kind, of allow me to say, travel apartheid, which I think is unacceptable,” Guterres said.

Omicron was first identified in southern Africa and many countries, including the United States and Britain, have announced travel curbs and other restrictions on the region. Africa has some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates worldwide due to a lack of access to doses.

Guterres has long warned about the dangers of vaccine inequality around the world and that low immunization rates are “a breeding ground for variants.”

“These travel bans are not justified,” said African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat at the joint news conference with Guterres after the annual meeting between the United Nations and the African Union.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Franklin Paul and Diane Craft)

This article was written by Michelle Nichols from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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Tags: coronavirus, travel bans, united nations

Photo credit: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 76th Session of the General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York on September 21, 2021. Guterres has called out vaccine inequality as countries impose new covid lockdowns. Timothy A. Clary / Reuters

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