Russia Helps South Africa Fight Omicron Variant By Sending Virologists, Epidemiologists, Doctors To Sanitation Laboratories

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would send virus specialists to South Africa to set up a COVID-19 laboratory there, following the discovery of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

President Putin said this while speaking with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who thanked Russia for its cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"An agreement was reached to send a group of Russian virologists, epidemiologists, researchers and doctors, as well as a sanitary-epidemiological laboratory and other medical equipment to South Africa in the near future," the Kremlin said in a statement, citing the Manila Bulletin of AFP December 10.

First detected two weeks ago in South Africa, coinciding with a spike in the number of infections worldwide, this variant adds to fears of a new wave of global COVID-19 infections.

Russia at the start of the pandemic was accused of playing politics with the help of its handling of the virus, with critics saying its sending military doctors and medical equipment to Italy and Serbia was meant to curry favor with Europe.

Last year, Moscow also sent a shipment of ventilators to the United States under Donald Trump's administration, but the equipment was found to be faulty and never used.

For information, the Russian Ministry of Health said earlier this week it had registered the first two cases of the new variant from people who returned from South Africa.