The United Kingdom's response to the news of a new SAR-CoV-2 variant with multiple mutations, dubbed omicron, has been commendably swift. Travel from South Africa where the variant was detected as well as from five adjoining countries has been interdicted. One of those countries is Botswana, the source of the sample analysed in South Africa. The SA authorities themselves are also to be commended for speedy notification to the WHO of the situation. It is unfortunate that their government has described the UK response as rushed.
On the contrary, if prompt action had been taken in January 2020, either preventing the return of travellers from known virus hotspots, or at least quarantining them, thousands of deaths would surely have been prevented. As for the UK, so also for SA. It is probable that the initial infection there was brought in by returners from ski holidays in Europe. Even under apartheid, there would have been sharing of space under the same roof; afterwards, there was even more opportunity for the virus to spread.
According to a WHO expert, the reason for the unusual number of mutations in the omicron variant is the compromised immune system of so many people in sub-Saharan Africa. This in turn can be traced back to the ignorant response by South African and other governments to the spread of HIV at the end of last century.
[Updated 2021-11-27 00:15]
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