South Africa to share Omicron strain samples with foreign biosecurity bodies

Johannesburg: South Africa will share the samples of the new Omicron coronavirus variant with biosecurity agencies of other nations, the director of the country’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, Tulio de Oliveira, said on Saturday.

The country will send the strain samples to main biosecurity agencies in the world, as was done with the Beta variant, de Oliveira told the Financial Times.

Requests from the US and the UK have already come, the official said, adding that South Africa has always been closely cooperating with overseas biosecurity agencies to work out solutions as quickly as possible.