Asian Markets Hit by Moderna Vaccine Warning over Omicron

Asian Markets Hit by Moderna Vaccine Warning over Omicron

A woman looks on from the observation deck of Tokyo's Haneda international airport on November 29, 2021, as Japan announced plans to bar all new foreign travelers over the Omicron variant of Covid-19 Philip FONG AFP

Just as it was recovering from the body blow of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy has taken yet another hit from the Omicron variant of the virus, which has led to a raft of new travel restrictions.

First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the new strain has rapidly spread everywhere from Africa to the Pacific, and from Europe to Canada, causing dozens of countries to announce travel restrictions.

The severity of the economic impact will depend on how dangerous the variant proves to be, and how well existing vaccinations stand up to it, AFP reported.

That has meant that even with the most favorable scenarios in mind, economists are already revising their 2022 forecasts downwards.

The International Monetary Fund, which expects growth of 4.9 percent for the next year, has been insisting for months that the coronavirus and its variants remain the main threat.

The economic impact could be "modest," in the order of 0.25 percentage points on global growth