Impotence and anger in South Africa over international isolation by omicron

South Africa and its scientists received with helplessness and disgust the drastic reaction and the international isolation of southern Africa after the detection of the variant omicronAlthough the country’s government is also debating whether to take additional measures despite the still low rates of contagion.

“This latest round of travel bans is like punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and its ability to detect variants faster. Excellent science should be applauded, not punished, “the South African Foreign Ministry criticized this Saturday in a statement.

“We also point out that the new variants were detected in other countries. Those countries have no recent ties to South Africa. It is worth noting that the reaction to these countries is markedly different, ”lamented the portfolio.

“Draconian”, “unjustified” and “counterproductive” were the qualifiers used yesterday by the South African Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla, to describe the drastic international reaction with the southern African countries.

The government headed by Cyril Ramaphosa also regretted the lack of willingness to dialogue in the rest of the countries and the serious effects that fear and prohibitions will have on the weakened South African economy, especially in tourism, just at the gates of the southern summer.

The numbers of infections in South Africa, for the moment, remain relatively low (2,828 new cases this Friday, among a population of about 58 million), but in recent days it has been increasing rapidly, especially in the province of Gauteng (where they are Johannesburg and Pretoria).

In this context and with indications that this rapid increase could be the fault of the omicron variant, the South African government today scheduled a meeting of the council that studies the restrictions in the country.

The health authorities, meanwhile, insist on the importance of vaccination – which in South Africa is around 24% and whose rate had slowed down in recent weeks – and emphasize that there is nothing to suggest that the existing formulas will not be effective, at least , against severe disease.

Powerlessness among scientists and citizens

The dislike for the international reaction is also shared by South African scientists, who helplessly see how the country’s early transparency policy and high sequencing capacity – cultivated in other crises, such as the fight against HIV, which has a high prevalence in South Africa- results in isolation rather than support.

Just a few hours after announcing the new variant last Thursday, the scientist Tulio de Oliveira, the great figure of reference in genomic sequencing in South Africa, launched a prayer on social networks for the world to “give support to South Africa”, included in the financial field, instead of “discriminating and isolating it.”

His plea, however, fell on deaf ears and that same night the United Kingdom and Israel imposed restrictions.

On Friday, in a cascade, a multitude of countries around the world did the same, from the European Union and the United States to Australia and Morocco.

“It is very naive for countries to think that they can prevent (thus) the importation of the virus,” vaccinologist Shabir Madhi, one of the leading scientific figures of the immunization campaign and the pandemic response in South Africa, told EFE today.

“The fact that we have such a high level of (genomic) sequencing seems to be playing against us, instead of contributing globally to the fight against the pandemic. Our sequencing capacity is phenomenal, we are just ahead and we have a more robust program than even many rich countries and that is why we can identify them so quickly, “he said.

Among ordinary South Africans and in neighboring countries, the drastic international reaction was also met with amazement and disappointment, and the networks were filled with critical messages.

“They make it difficult for Africa to get vaccines. When Africa reports new variants, they stigmatize us ”, the media entrepreneur from Zimbabwe (another of the countries affected by the restrictions) reproached on Twitter Trevor Ncube.

In parallel, hundreds of travelers who were in South Africa have been suddenly deprived of return routes.

“I think we are all very frustrated because it is not something we can control, but nevertheless we are being punished for it”, tells Efe Jeremy Carlsson, a South African who must return to Spain, where he resides, and does not know if he will be able to fly.

José Luis Ayxela and Tona Frigola left Barcelona as normal on Thursday to hug their grandson for the first time in Johannesburg, whom they still did not know due to the pandemic. Shortly after landing, news of the new variant began to reach them.

“We have made the normal trip, with PCR and vaccination and the stopover (…) After four hours messages have begun to arrive from Spain saying that we were going to get trapped anyway,” Tona Frigola shares with Efe.

“I think that, as it is a novelty, things will return little by little to their place,” he adds optimistically, despite not knowing if they will return home on the scheduled date.