The swift air travel bans imposed on southern African countries as a response to emergenece of the Omicron variant of coronavirus are seen by South African officials as a flagrantly unfair punishment for the "excellent work" of local virologists and the honesty of the government, according to a Saturday statement from the country’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation.
“This latest round of travel bans is akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker," the statement reads. "Excellent science should be applauded and not punished."
The statement notes that even though the Omicron variant has been detected in other countries, "the reaction to those countries is starkly different to cases in southern Africa."
The country, whose economy partly depends on tourism, earlier had proposed alternatives to travel restrictions, such as enhancing testing in airports and expanding the quarantine period.
"Our immediate concern is the damage that these restrictions are causing to families, the travel and tourism industries and business," South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said in the statement.
Following reports about the discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in southern Africa, which is believed to have an increased ability to mutate, many countries began suspending flights to some African states. Among the countries that have imposed travel restrictions are the US, Canada, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, Israel and the UAE.
Meanwhile, the new variant has been already found in the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Israel and Hong Kong.