WHO says lift travel bans

Newshub reports:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is advising against COVID-19 travel restrictions, describing them as a “heavy burden on lives and livelihoods”. 

In recently updated advice on its website, the United Nations branch said blanket travel bans “will not prevent the international spread” of COVID-19 and “they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods”.  

“Lift or ease international travel bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress experienced,” the WHO advice reads. 

“The failure of travel restrictions introduced after the detection and reporting of the Omicron variant to limit international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures over time.”

While the UK plans to drop nearly all coronavirus restrictions and Australia has removed quarantine rules for the vaccinated, New Zealand still requires international arrivals to spend 10 days in a state-run managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility. 

We should remember this when the Government says it is following the science.