THE minister of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has condemned the United Kingdom (UK) and other developed countries for their reactions over the country’s scientific work in genomic modelling.
Last week scientists in South Africa reported a new coronavirus variant, Omicron, which led to several countries instituting a travel ban.
Nzimande has urged the UK and the other countries to reverse their decision to isolate the region and instead work together in collaboration with our network of scientists.
Read also: President deeply disappointed by decision to prohibit travel from SA
“We expect these countries to acknowledge our scientific prowess and seek to partner rather than to punish us. There is absolutely no scientific basis for them to shut the entire Southern African region before any evidence on the epidemiology of the Omicron variant. In any case, this variant is now being found in many more countries in Europe,” he said.
He also took time to applaud the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), funded by the DSI, which played a critical role in identifying the Beta variant and recently the B.1.1.529, or Omicron.
“The KRISP team’s genome sequencing demonstrated South Africa’s leadership in this area on a world stage, and contributed to the understanding of emerging variants and their effect on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines,” said Nzimande.
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