After the Omicron variant was identified by researchers in South Africa, the backlash of the global players—especially the USA, UK and EU—prompted questions about the situation on the ground in the country. mid-day reached out to public health and health policy expert Professor Alex Van Den Heever, Chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies in the School of Governance at the Wits University, Johannesburg, on what the situation is, what should be the way forward and more. 

When the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation led by experts from KRISP—Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform in South Africa first identified the new variant of COVID-19, named Omicron by the WHO, other countries came down on South Africa and instituted travel bans, instead of lauding the country’s scientific community for being alert, detecting the variant quickly and sharing the data transparently.