The ban on entry into Europe imposed on African countries by "Europeans" after South African scientists discovered the new variant, Omicron, continues to be the topic of the day in Africa and beyond. Several nations, including civil society organizations, have spoken out against the decision.
At an International Peace and Security Forum being held in Dakar, Senegal's capital, the South African and Senegalese presidents, Cyril Ramaphosa and Macky Sall, respectively criticized the attitude of "Europeans" towards South Africa following the discovery of the Omicron variant.
At the opening of the Forum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, referring to the travel bans imposed by several countries on his, recalled that "when South African scientists discovered Omicron, they took on the responsibility to inform the world. And what happened? Western countries imposed restrictions to punish excellence," he lamented.
For his part, Macky Sall said that "Isolating a country that has detected a new variant and shown transparency is not only discriminatory, but also counterproductive, because it encourages others not to be transparent."
It is known that in late November, a team of South African researchers announced that they had detected a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron. The immediate reaction of many countries was to close their borders with southern Africa within hours.
"This is not acceptable," Sall added. Ramaphosa also said he was particularly "disappointed" with the attitude of advanced countries on vaccines.
Ramaphosa and the "Crumbs" of the rich countries
The South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, went further and, accused the rich countries of "giving only the crumbs." "The greed they show is particularly disappointing, especially when they claim to be our partners," he stressed.
About the negotiation of a temporary lifting of patents protecting Covid-19 vaccines, he considered that "the refusal" of the rich countries allows "to really see what their interests are."
It is worth noting that negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are stalled because India and South Africa have called for the temporary removal of intellectual property protections to boost production in developing countries and abolish glaring inequalities in access to vaccines.
This idea is fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical giants, for the sake of their financial effort in research, and by their host countries, for whom patents are not the main constraint on increased vaccine production, fearing that such a measure would ultimately undermine the capacity for innovation.
So far, according to the latest report from Agence France-Presse, Covid-19 is estimated to have caused at least 5,253,726 deaths worldwide, out of more than 265.13 million infections with the new coronavirus recorded since the pandemic began,
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, and currently with variants identified in several countries.
A new variant, Omicron, classified as "worrisome" by the WHO, was detected in Southern Africa, but since the South African health authorities gave the alert on November 24, infections have been reported in about 30 countries on all continents, including Portugal.
Source: dw