AHAD KAMAL RONGON

South Africa has complained it is being punished. Instead of applauded for discovering Omicron a concerning new variant of Covid-19. The foreign ministry made the statement as countries around the world restricted travel from southern Africa as details of the spread emerged. Despite gains made in the first 15 years of democracy, 55.5% of South Africans lived below the poverty line as of 2015. Coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, household food insecurity, child hunger, and extraordinarily high youth unemployment levels have eroded the early gains made. Omicron cases have also been detected in Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel. Only about 24% of South Africans have been fully vaccinated so far. "Excellent science should be applauded and not punished," it said. The bans were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker". Travelers from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Eswatini will not be able to enter the UK unless they are UK or Irish nationals, or UK residents. The WHO said the number of cases of this variant, initially named B.1.1.529, appeared to be increasing in almost all of South Africa's provinces. South Africa needs our help in this critical situation we definitely should help them all.