The new chapter in the history of the coronavirus has a Brazilian as the protagonist. Scientist Túlio de Oliveira, who has lived in South Africa since 1997, is behind the discovery of the new mutation called omicron.
For his team, which was also the first to identify the delta variant in December 2020, it’s an unfortunate double-championship. The most recent decisive contribution of African science to the fight against the pandemic has been rewarded in the worst way. In less than 48 hours, a cordon sanitaire was erected across southern Africa.
In the age of instant information, rulers are forced to react to headlines. They explain the decision to close African borders, of dubious usefulness against a variant that is already present in several continents, as the only one possible given the information available about the omicron.
But they omit that reopening the borders will be much more difficult than closing them. The last two years have taught us that the resumption of freedom of movement, supposedly a sacred value of Western democracies, is conditioned by commercial, migratory and electoral factors.
In this context, it is no exaggeration to say that the measures may have sentenced all of sub-Saharan Africa to months, if not years, of ostracism.
South Africa, main target, is one of the main gateways to Africa. The South African province of Gauteng alone, where the economic capital Johannesburg is located, produces around 10% of the continental GDP. The city’s international airport is the reference point for services, transport and logistics. In recent months, financial institutions have highlighted economic diversification and trade integration as engines of post-pandemic recovery in the region.
All these beautiful promises were thrown out the window on Friday afternoon. The drama is revolting because South Africa has spent the last few months demanding that pharmaceutical companies and developed countries honor the commitments made by the Covax mechanism last year.
Only a quarter of medical professionals and 6% of the African population are vaccinated. It is estimated that 500 million vaccines will be lacking for African countries to be able to immunize 40% of their population in 2021. The always romanticized South-South solidarity was also far from what was expected.
Not everything that happens in Africa is attributable to industrialized countries. Morocco has just suspended all international flights for two weeks, contributing to the isolation of West Africa.
Tanzania suffered from a president in the image of the Brazilian, pathologically denial, who ignored the existence of the virus until his deathbed. South Africa itself, where the government is far from being irreproachable in managing health crises, is facing a wave of vaccine hesitation.
To blame developed countries for the emergence of the omicron variant is to color science with lessons in moralism. But the unilateral and reckless move to close borders shows that the international community needs to improve a lot if it is to win the pandemic.
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