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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE United Nations WORLD Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has described as “counter-productive’ blanket Covid-19 travel bans as it endorsed the call by the World Health Organisation to have these restrictions lifted or eased.

This is on account that the approach is not effective in suppressing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic but is, instead, causing social and economic harm across the globe.

In a statement, UNWTO cited the World Health Organisation (WHO) outlining that the travel restrictions may also discourage transparent and rapid reporting of emerging variants of concern.

“UNWTO has welcomed the call of its sister UN agency World Health Organisation (WHO) for restrictions on travel to be lifted or eased.

Citing the varied global responses to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, WHO has reiterated that restrictions on travel are not effective in suppressing the international spread,” said the world tourism body.

In line with UNWTO’s recurring warning against the use of blanket restrictions, the 10th meeting of the WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee held recently in Geneva, stakeholders expressed concern that such measures can cause economic and social harm. – @KazungaOliver