London calls emergency meeting of G7 health ministers on Monday

The British government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7, announced on Sunday that it would convene the next day “an emergency meeting” of the group’s health ministers to tackle the issue of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. . The health ministers of France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom will therefore meet “Monday, November 29 to discuss the evolution of the situation on Omicron “, during an” emergency meeting “, announced the British Ministry of Health in a statement.

Present in several countries

This decision comes as cases linked to the new strain have been detected in several countries across the globe, notably in the Netherlands where 13 cases have been identified, in Italy and in Germany. In the UK, three cases have so far been confirmed by the British Health Security Agency (UKHSA): the case of a person who had traveled to London but has since left the country, a case in the city of Nottingham (central England) and the last in that of Chelmsford (east London). While the pandemic has already claimed more than five million lives worldwide since the end of 2019, the arrival during the past week of the Omicron variant was deemed “worrying” on Friday by the World Health Organization.

Identified in South Africa, it has pushed many countries to close their borders to southern Africa – including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, but also Zambia, Malawi or Angola depending on the case – even though they had sometimes barely reopened to the world.

Source From: Europe1

Share this article:

Leave a Reply

most popular