Katharine Houreld & Ayenat Mersie

NAIROBI, Reuters – South Africa has seen an increase in COVID-19 infections due to Omicron variant. However, symptoms for reinfected people and patients infected following vaccination seem to be mild according to a scientist who is studying the spread of the Omicron strain.

Global fears have been raised about the new variant. The variant was detected first in South Africa.

Anne von Gottberg from South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said that “previous infections used to protect Delta. But now with Omicron that does not seem to be true.”

At an international news conference, she said that Omicron-related infections as well as breakthrough infections among vaccinated people would have less severe consequences.

Von Gottberg claimed that travel bans, nL4N2SN0H0, imposed by many nations on South African passengers had a detrimental effect on Omicron’s logistics.

She stated that there are less flights available to transport reagents or equipment and to also send specimens to Omicron for them to work with.

These are isolated cultures of microorganisms that have been grown for research.

African leaders are complaining about restrictions on travel, claiming that they were penalised because their countries reported data in a transparent manner.

According to the WHO, more than 50% of African countries are now capable of performing the genetic sequencing necessary for the identification and pairing with other nations who can.

Officials from WHO stated that COVID-19 vaccination was increasing in Africa. Five countries, including South Africa, now have vaccinated over 40% of their population, while coverage elsewhere remains low.

A separate conference was held online by Dr John Nkengasong from the Africa Centres for Disease Control. He stated that supplies of vaccines had increased on the continent.

“Vaccines are starting to flow to Europe in a very consistent and steady fashion,” he stated, noting that it is now up to us to see if those supplies get used.

He said, “The uptake of the technology isn’t as good as we would like.”

He said that some African countries delayed delivery of vaccines. This included doses under the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.