FILE - In this June 11, 2009, record photo, the logo of the World Health Organization is seen astatine the WHO office successful Geneva, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File) (Anja Niedringhaus, AP2009)

The World Health Organization says question bans by countries are having an interaction connected planetary practice against the caller omicron variant by causing “challenges” to the sharing of laboratory samples from South Africa that tin assistance get amended grips connected the caller variant.

The comments Wednesday came astatine the archetypal property briefing by the U.N. wellness bureau since it christened omicron arsenic a “variant of concern” aft being brought to airy by researchers successful South Africa past week. Many countries responded by suspending flights from 7 confederate Africa countries.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for “tailored” involution by countries, including investigating travelers earlier and aft they get successful a country, and advised against “blanket question bans” that “place a dense load connected lives and livelihoods.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s method pb connected COVID-19, said planetary practice was continuing, and that researchers successful South Africa person been “very consenting to not lone stock data, not lone stock information, but besides stock samples.”

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But she said question bans “have caused immoderate challenges for those samples to really beryllium shipped retired of the country. So, determination are different implications for these question bans that are retired there.”

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