The heads of state also talked about the Russia—Africa summit, BRICS and trade and economic cooperation
Cyril Ramaphosa and Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, the Kremlin’s press service reports.
The heads of the two countries agreed to “join forces in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic,” especially in light of the identification of a new strain of omicron.
Putin and Ramaphosa also discussed preparations for the Russia-Africa summit, BRICS cooperation and trade and economic cooperation.
The discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in South Africa and Botswana was reported by British scientists at the end of November. WHO has warned about the danger of a new variant of the virus, called “omicron”: due to mutations in the spike protein, it can be more contagious than others.
In Russia, cases of infection with the omicron strain have not yet been identified. The country has introduced a 14-day quarantine for arrivals from South Africa and neighboring countries. Since November 28, Russia has restricted entry from South Africa, several other African countries and Hong Kong. The restrictions also apply to foreigners who have visited these places within the last ten days.
Putin instructed the government to develop an action plan to combat the omicron strain by December 7. He called for special attention to be paid to improving the effectiveness of vaccines.
On December 3, two people who arrived from South Africa were infected with coronavirus. It is not specified which strain the passengers were infected with, which airport they arrived at and how many people were on board with them.
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