VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

People pull shopping carts as they walk past an information board, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COV Britain, June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble - 

The discovery of a new coronavirus variant named Omicron triggered global alarm on Friday (Nov 26) as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Omicron may spread more quickly than other forms, and preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection.

Epidemiologists warned travel curbs may be too late to stop Omicron from circulating globally. The new mutations were first discovered in South Africa and have since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and neighbouring countries effective Monday, a senior Biden administration official said.

Going further, Canada said it was closing its borders to those countries, following bans on flights announced by Britain, the European Union and others.

But it could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it. Omicron is the fifth variant of concern designated by the WHO.

The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different than the one in the original coronavirus that vaccines are based on, the UK Health Security Agency said, raising fears about how current vaccines will fare.

Scientists issued similar warnings.

"This new variant of the COVID-19 virus is very worrying. It is the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen to date," said Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain's University of Warwick.

"Some of the mutations that are similar to changes we've seen in other variants of concern are associated with enhanced transmissibility and with partial resistance to immunity induced by vaccination or natural infection."

Those worries pummelled financial markets, especially stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, and oil, which tumbled by about US$10 a barrel.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.5 per cent, its worst day since late October 2020, and European stocks had their worst day in 17 months.

Several other countries including India, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates also toughened travel curbs.

In Geneva the WHO - whose experts on Friday discussed the risks that the variant, called B.1.1.529, presents - had earlier warned against travel curbs for now.

"It's really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here," said the WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan, praising South Africa's public health institutions for picking up the new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Richard Lessells, a South Africa-based infectious disease expert, also expressed frustration at travel bans, saying the focus should be on getting more people vaccinated in places that have struggled to access sufficient shots.

"This is why we talked about the risk of vaccine apartheid. This virus can evolve in the absence of adequate levels of vaccination," he told Reuters.

Less than 7per cent of people in low-income countries have received their first COVID-19 shot, according to medical and human rights groups. Meanwhile, many developed nations are giving third-dose boosters.

The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.

One epidemiologist in Hong Kong said it may be too late to tighten travel curbs against the latest variant.

"Most likely this virus is already in other places. And so if we shut the door now, it's going to be probably too late," said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa recommended that travel be restricted from some African countries, but President Jair Bolsonaro appeared to dismiss such measures.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticised by public health experts for his management of the pandemic, railing against lockdowns and choosing not to get vaccinated. Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll from the virus, behind only the United States.

Discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.

Friday also marked the start of the holiday shopping period in the United States, but stores were less crowded than in years past.

Realtor Kelsey Hupp, 36, was at the Macy's department store in downtown Chicago on Black Friday.

"Chicago is pretty safe and masked and vaccinated. I got my booster so I'm not too concerned about it," she said//CNA

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink attend a meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb 26, 2019. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS) - 

The top US diplomat for East Asia will visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand from the weekend after President Joe Biden pledged stepped up engagement with Southeast Asia, a key battleground in his contest for influence with China.

Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, will be in the region from Saturday (Nov 27) until Dec 4, a State Department statement said.

Kritenbrink would "reaffirm the US commitment to work together ... to tackle the most serious global and regional challenges" and stress US support for "a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific," it said, a reference to China's increasingly assertive behavior in the region, which Washington has repeatedly denounced as "coercive."

Kritenbrink will discuss human rights "challenges," seek to bolster cooperation on climate change and discuss ways to pressure Myanmar's military government to cease violence and allow unhindered humanitarian access, the statement said.

He will also discuss how to strengthen economic relationships and "build back better" from the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

Biden joined leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in a virtual summit last month, the first time in four years Washington had engaged at the top level with the bloc.

He pledged to stand with ASEAN in defending freedom of the seas and democracy, and said Washington would start talks on developing a regional economic framework, something critics say his Asia strategy has lacked since his predecessor Donald Trump quit a regional trade pact.

An Asian diplomat said regional countries were still awaiting details of this plan, recognizing Biden's focus on rebuilding domestic economic strength was a limiting factor.

Daniel Russel, a predecessor of Kritenbrink in the Obama administration, said a key question for ASEAN was "whether the United States truly has a viable economic strategy" for the region.

"The pledge to discuss ways to strengthen US economic engagement with ASEAN countries is music to their ears, even if they may be underwhelmed by the 'economic framework' so far," he said.

Kritenbrink's trip announcement stressed the "centrality" of the 10-member ASEAN to regional affairs, but he will not visit the bloc's new chair, Cambodia, which has shifted ever closer to China.

The Asian diplomat and Russel said Kritenbrink was likely to visit other ASEAN countries before long and Russel noted Indonesia's capital Jakarta is home to the bloc's permanent headquarters.

"While it is important to discuss the ASEAN agenda with the 2022 chair, visiting ASEAN headquarters in Jakarta will afford him the opportunity to begin that conversation," Russel said//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic - 

Novavax Inc said on Friday (Nov 26) it had started working on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine to target the variant detected in South Africa and would have the shot ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks.

The company's COVID-19 shot contains an actual version of the virus' spike protein that cannot cause disease but can trigger the immune system. The vaccine developer said it had started developing a spike protein specifically based on the known genetic sequence of the variant, B.1.1.529.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the variant, named omicron, as being "of concern", a label only given to four variants to date.

"The initial work will take a few weeks," a company spokesperson said. Shares of the company closed up nearly 9 per cent on Friday.

Novavax's vaccine received its first emergency use approval earlier this month in Indonesia followed by the Philippines.

The company has said it is on track to file for US approval by the end of the year. It has also filed for approvals with the European Medicines Agency as well as in Canada.

Other vaccine developers, including Germany's BioNTech SE and Johnson & Johnson, have said they are testing the effectiveness of their shots against the new variant.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc said it had begun testing its vaccine candidate, INO-4800, to evaluate its effectiveness against the new variant. The company expects the testing to take about two weeks.

Inovio also said it was simultaneously designing a new vaccine candidate that specifically targeted Omicron.

"Best case scenario, INO-4800 ... will be completely resilient against omicron, but if that's not the case then we will have a newly designed vaccine ready to go if need be," said Kate Broderick, senior vice president of Inovio's R&D division.

Earlier this month, Inovio resumed a late-stage trial of its vaccine in the United States after 14 months on clinical hold//CNA

Passengers queue to get a PCR test against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) before traveling on international flights, at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov 26, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham) - 

The discovery of a new coronavirus variant triggered global alarm on Friday (Nov 26) as countries rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa and stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic suffered their biggest falls in more than a year.

The United States will restrict travel from South Africa - where the new mutation was discovered - and neighbouring countries effective Monday, a senior Biden administration official said.

Going further, Canada said it was closing its borders to those countries, following bans on flights announced by Britain, the European Union and others.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was designating the B11529 variant, named omicron, as being "of concern", a label only given to four variants to date.

But it could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant's mutations. Health authorities are seeking to determine if omicron is more transmissible or infectious than other variants and if vaccines are effective against it.

South Africa's Health Minister Joe Phaahla called the travel restrictions "unjustified", though he also said preliminary studies suggested the new variant may be more transmissible.

"This new variant of the COVID-19 virus is very worrying. It is the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen to date," said Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Britain's Warwick university.

"Some of the mutations that are similar to changes we've seen in other variants of concern are associated with enhanced transmissibility and with partial resistance to immunity induced by vaccination or natural infection."

Those worries pummelled financial markets, especially stocks of airlines and others in the travel sector, and oil, which tumbled by about US$10 a barrel. 

Meanwhile, the scramble to ban air travel from southern Africa left hundreds of passengers on two KLM flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg stranded on the tarmac for hours at Amsterdam's Schipol Airport before they were transferred for testing.

Several other countries including India, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates also toughened travel curbs.

In Geneva the WHO - whose experts on Friday discussed the risks that the variant, called B11529, presents - had earlier warned against travel curbs for now.

"It's really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here," said the WHO's emergencies director Mike Ryan, praising South Africa's public health institutions for picking up the new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different to the one in the original coronavirus that vaccines are based on, the UK Health Security Agency said, raising fears about how current vaccines will fare.

"As scientists have described, (this is) the most significant variant they've encountered to date," British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.5 per cent, tracking its worst day since late October 2020, and European stocks had their worst day in 17 months as financial markets digested the news.

Cruise operators Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line plunged more than 9 per cent each, while shares in United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines slumped almost 10 per cent.

The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting almost 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.

One epidemiologist in Hong Kong said it may be too late to tighten travel curbs against the latest variant.

"Most likely this virus is already in other places. And so if we shut the door now, it's going to be probably too late," said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.

Belgium identified Europe's first case, adding to those in Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa recommended that travel be restricted from some African countries, but President Jair Bolsonaro appeared to dismiss such measures.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticised by public health experts for his management of the pandemic, railing against lockdowns and choosing not to get vaccinated. Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll from the virus, behind only the United States.

Discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.

Friday also marked the start of the holiday shopping period in the United States, when retailers offer discounts. This year, US shoppers found stores less crowded than in years past.

Realtor Kelsey Hupp, 36, was at the Macy's department store in downtown Chicago on Black Friday.

"Chicago is pretty safe and masked and vaccinated. I got my booster so I'm not too concerned about it," she said//CNA