PARIS (Reuters) – The head of global airlines body IATA criticised governments for worsening the Omicron scare through snap border measures or “rip-off” testing regimes and urged politicians to let travellers make their own decisions based on scientific data.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, predicted “knee-jerk” border restrictions resulting from the coronavirus variant would ease soon but it was to early to say whether holiday travel would be disrupted.
“We can’t shut down everything when a new variant appears,” Walsh told a news briefing, adding hasty travel bans had penalised countries like South Africa for reporting findings.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Louise Heavens)
