The Straits Times
December 3, 2021
The second part of UN biodiversity summit COP15, set to take place in Switzerland in January, has been postponed over the new coronavirus variant Omicron, organisers said on Thursday (Dec 2).
"Uncertainties posed by the Omicron variant and resulting travel measures and restrictions" have forced physical meetings to be postponed, they said in a statement.
The Geneva meeting originally supposed to take place from Jan 18 to 22 could instead be moved to March.
In a sign of Omicron's threat, about 2,000 people, including 1,600 children, have been placed in quarantine after two cases of the variant were found on one of the campuses of the renowned International School of Geneva, Swiss health authorities said on Thursday.
The first round of the COP15 gathering was held in October in south-west China's Kunming, though many attended the meeting virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It saw the adoption of a declaration to recognise the importance of biodiversity in human health, strengthen species protection laws and improve the sharing of genetic resources.