The World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Nov. 26 that it was calling off a key upcoming ministerial meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, citing disruption to international travel sparked by the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant that the WTO described as “particularly transmissible.” The WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) was scheduled to kick off on Nov. 30, but the announcement of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in Switzerland and other European countries in response to the new variant, dubbed Omicron, prompted the transnational organization to announce it was postponing the meeting indefinitely. “Given these unfortunate developments and the uncertainty that they cause, we see no alternative but to propose to postpone the Ministerial Conference and reconvene it as soon as possible when conditions allow,” WTO General Council Chair Ambassador Dacio Castillo said in a statement. “I trust that you will fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation,” Castillo added, with …