Christmas shoppers in the UK. The country is preparing for a restricted festive season. PA
Christmas shoppers in the UK. The country is preparing for a restricted festive season. PA
Christmas shoppers in the UK. The country is preparing for a restricted festive season. PA
Christmas shoppers in the UK. The country is preparing for a restricted festive season. PA


Omicron didn't need to be this damaging


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December 21, 2021

On April 12, 2020, White House health expert Dr Anthony Fauci told CNN that more American lives could "obviously" have been saved if the US had had a better Covid-19 response. On Sunday, a year and a half later, he said the Omicron variant is “raging around the world”. With a different president in office, and despite vaccines and new treatment methods available, Dr Fauci is still unable to address his country, one of the most powerful on earth, with optimism.

The cyclical nature of his announcements point to a major international failing: after two years of Covid-19, many countries, particularly rich ones, have still not learnt important lessons.

Allowing new strains to run amok poses huge dangers for countries that, through no fault of their own, are not being given enough vaccines. In an exclusive interview with The National, Leif Johansson, the chairman of Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, said that hoarding doses is a major impediment to forming a global response to the pandemic. Specifically, Mr Johansson highlighted the negative impact it is having on Gavi's Covax programme, which works towards securing equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The way out of this unacceptable cycle is equal vaccine distribution and good governance. The two are as important as the other. Plenty of countries with high inoculation rates are witnessing a surge in cases, due to a wider ineffective government response.

And yet, others with lower rates are managing the pandemic impressively. Having suffered a great deal from Covid-19, this summer Tunisia quickly implemented a rapid inoculation campaign, helped by a donation of 500,000 doses from the UAE.

A success of this nature shows what can be achieved in the fight against Covid-19 if governments learn lessons at home, and, in equal measure, learn that international co-operation and fairness is the answer – not vaccine nationalism.

The reluctance of some wealthy countries to learn is also testing political systems and societies. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is unravelling in the face of accusations that Omicron is being dealt with incompetently. The Netherlands is entering a new, deeply divisive lockdown. Israel has banned travel from a number of countries, including the US, Canada and the UK.

The situation with Omicron is now so bad that there is a need for renewed caution. Targeted, more subtle protective measures are justified, and countries such as the UAE are taking them. Abu Dhabi has introduced scanners that check for signs of Covid-19 infection on its border with Dubai. Booster programmes too are quickly progressing and Expo 2020 has announced further precautions.

But many countries are failing to adopt agile measures or react quickly enough. As cases soar yet again, global resilience seems a long way off. But it is never too late to start, even from a low base. Only then can Dr Fauci be sure that he will not be delivering the same bad news at the end of 2022.

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Prop idols

Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.

Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)

An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.

----

Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)

Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.

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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)

Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.

Updated: December 21, 2021, 3:00 AM`