africa: In slap at China, US praises South Africa's detection of new Covid strain – Times of India

Representative image WASHINGTON: The United States praised South Africa Saturday for quickly identifying the new Covid strain called Omicron and sharing this information with the world — a barely veiled slap at China’s handling of the original outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with South Africa’s international relations and cooperation minister, Naledi Pandor , and they discussed cooperation on vaccinating people in Africa against Covid-19, the State Department said. “Secretary Blinken specifically praised South Africa’s scientists for the quick identification of the Omicron variant and South Africa’s government for its transparency in sharing this information,…