A feeling of injustice for having raised the alarm.

South Africa, whose citizens have become persona non grata all over the world after the news of a disturbing new variant, feels "punished" when its scientists have discovered it.

The government believes it has nothing to be ashamed of and denounces its stigmatization for being the announcer of bad news, like a multitude of South African Internet users as indignant as they are worried.

“This latest round of travel bans is to punish South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and its ability to detect new variants more quickly.

Scientific excellence must be applauded and not punished, ”said the government on Saturday, two days after the announcement of this discovery, dubbed Omicron by the WHO.

"Do not act impulsively"

“New variants have been detected in other countries. Each of these cases has no recent connection to southern Africa. It should be noted that the reaction to these countries is radically different from that of the cases in southern Africa, ”further regrets the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement. He also recalls that the WHO has "asked the leaders of the whole world not to react impulsively" in order to favor a "scientific approach, based on the risks". Without much effect. But Pretoria obviously “aligns” with this position.

As of Friday evening, the day after the revelation of this new variant, the Minister of Health denounced the “draconian” reaction of many countries which immediately closed their borders even before knowing more about its dangerousness.

"Some leaders are looking for scapegoats to solve a problem that is global", denounced Joe Phaahla, evoking a reaction of "panic".

Bans that do not "scientifically make a lot of sense"

Pretoria fears the impact of these closures on "families, the travel and tourism industry, businesses".

But also that they dissuade other countries from reporting the discovery of future variants for fear of finding themselves sanctioned.

“We are sometimes punished for being transparent and doing things quickly,” lamented South African virology star Tulio de Oliveira, who, with his team at the KRISP research institute, detected the variant.

According to the Brazilian researcher based in Zulu country, travel bans do not "scientifically make a lot of sense" in the fight against Covid.

Washington had imposed a similar ban on China at the start of the pandemic, before ending up with the highest number of infections, he recalls.

Many advantages

The government also pleads that South Africa has many assets against the pandemic: its "ability to test", the application of health protocols, especially in terms of transport.

Its immunization level too - at 23.8%, against 54% of the world population;

it is little, but clearly more than in the rest of Africa.

These elements, "supported by a world-class scientific community, should reassure our global partners that we are doing as well as they are in the management of the pandemic", argues Pretoria.

And the Minister of Foreign Affairs Naledi Pandor, if she "respects" the right of countries to protect their citizens as they see fit, still wants to recall that "this pandemic requires collaboration and the sharing of expertise".

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  • Covid 19

  • epidemic

  • Omicron variant

  • South Africa

  • Coronavirus

  • World

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