Pedro Gullón
Social epidemiologist and doctor specialising in preventive medicine and public health at the University of Alcalá
The best way to control the transmission of omicron, with the information we have, is to control community transmission of COVID-19 within countries.
We do not know to what extent omicron is already widespread in neighbouring countries (the first case has already been confirmed in Spain), nor do we know what its transmissibility characteristics are. Therefore, the flight ban is likely to be of very limited effectiveness in preventing the entry of Omicron.
The ECDC published modelling where it analysed that limiting flights could delay the impact of the new variant by two weeks, but not prevent it. Therefore, right now, in order to control ómicron, we can establish four priorities: (1) study the characteristics of omicron (transmissibility, lethality, potential immune escape), which will take three or four weeks; (2) sequencing to determine the extent; (3) reduce community transmission of COVID-19, whether or not by omicron; (4) extend global vaccination to reduce transmission in other territories.