On Saturday, South Africa complained about being punished for being able to detect the new COVID-19 variants early, as travel bans and restrictions related to the new Omicron variant threaten to harm tourism and other economic sectors of the country.
South Africa is home to some of the world’s best epidemiologists and scientists, who have been successful in detecting new coronavirus variations and mutations early in their life cycles. South Africa was the first place where omicron variant was first discovered and it has since been found in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.
‘This newest wave of travel bans is tantamount to punishing South Africa for its advanced genetic sequencing and ability to discover new variations faster,’ the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said.
It issued a statement saying, ‘excellent science should be praised, not punished.’
Many governments raced to issue travel restrictions to South Africa and other countries in the region on Friday and Saturday.
While the new variant was found in other nations, the worldwide response to those countries was ‘starkly different’ from those towards southern Africa, the foreign ministry stated.
The new variant was first reported on Wednesday by a group of South African scientists who stated that they had discovered a variety that might potentially avoid the body’s immunological reaction and make it more transmissible.
The World Health Organization (WHO) called it Omicron and classified it as a ‘variant of concern’ on Friday, citing early indications of a higher risk of re-infection.
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