South African President Invites BRICS State Scientists To Study The Character And Mutations Of COVID-19

President Afrika Selatan Cyril Ramaphosa. (Wikimedia Commons/Palácio do Planalto)

JAKARTA - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa invited scientists from BRICS member countries to visit his country and study the coronavirus and its mutations with local specialists.

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited scientists from his fellow BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, to work with South African scientists in further researching the various characteristics of the COVID-19 virus and its mutations," the presidential office said in a statement quoted from Sputnik News December 11.

"This collaboration takes place in the context of establishing the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center in a virtual format," the statement continued.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country 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 last Thursday.

This was conveyed by President Putin 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.

For information, the World Health Organization (WHO) during an emergency meeting on November 26 designated the new type of COVID-19 as a "variant of concern" and called it Omicron.

The first variant originated in South Africa and spread around the world with more and more countries reporting cases of Omicron. The spread of Omicron prompted many countries to close borders to foreigners arriving from Africa regardless of whether they hold vaccination or recovery certificates or test negative for the coronavirus.