{"id":40919,"date":"2021-12-05T16:17:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T16:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans"},"modified":"2021-12-05T16:27:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T16:27:59","slug":"scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans","title":{"rendered":"Scientist who helped identify omicron slams travel bans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been on a rollercoaster of emotions, with the pride of accomplishment followed by dismay over the travel bans immediately slapped on southern African countries<\/b><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that how you reward science? By blacklisting countries?\u201d Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, a virologist at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, said in an interview Thursday night with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe virus does not know passports, it does not know borders,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

“We should be collaborating and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyo was doing genomic sequencing of COVID-19 samples at his lab in Botswana two weeks ago and noticed three cases that seemed dramatically different, with an unusual pattern showing multiple mutations.<\/p>\n

He continued studying the results and by early last week, decided to publicly release the data on the internet.<\/p>\n

Soon scientists in South Africa said they had made the same findings and an identical case in Hong Kong was also identified.<\/p>\n

A new coronavirus variant had been discovered, and soon the World Health Organization (WHO) named it omicron.<\/p>\n

It has now been identified in 38 countries and counting, including much of Western Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n

And the U.S. and many other nations have imposed flight restrictions to try to contain the emerging threat.<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking from his lab in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, Moyo bristled at being described as the man who first identified omicron.<\/p>\n

In fact, he noted that the variant was found to be something entirely new only by comparing it to other viruses online in a public database shared by scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way you can really see that you see something new is when you compare with millions of sequences. That\u2019s why you deposit it online,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Zimbabwe-born Moyo – who is also a research associate at Harvard’s school of public health, a married father of three, and a gospel singer – expressed pride in the way he and his international colleagues were transparent about their findings and sounded the alarm to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

Omicron startled scientists because it had more than 50 mutations.<\/p>\n

Little is known about the variant, and the world is watching nervously.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if it makes people more seriously ill or can evade the vaccine.<\/p>\n

But early evidence suggests it might be more contagious and more efficient at re-infecting people who have had a bout with COVID-19.<\/p>\n

In the coming weeks, labs around the world will be working to find out what to expect from omicron and just how dangerous it is.<\/p>\n

South Africa is seeing a dramatic surge in infections that may be driven by omicron.<\/p>\n

The country reported more than 16,000 new COVID-19 cases Friday, up from about 200 per day in mid-November.<\/p>\n

The number of omicron cases confirmed by genetic sequencing in Botswana has grown to 19, while South Africa has recorded more than 200.<\/p>\n

So far, most of the cases are in people who did not get vaccinated.<\/p>\n

He credited earlier research and investment into fighting HIV and AIDS with building Botswana’s capacity for doing genetic sequencing.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been on a rollercoaster of emotions, with the pride of accomplishment followed by dismay over the travel bans immediately slapped on southern African countries . \u201cIs that how you reward science? By blacklisting countries?\u201d Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":40918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[6857,7003,1539,544,8566,8571],"class_list":["post-40919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-covid-19","tag-kenya","tag-omicron","tag-omicron-variant"],"yoast_head":"\nScientist who helped identify omicron slams travel bans - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been on a roll ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientist who helped identify omicron slams travel bans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been on a roll ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-05T16:17:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-05T16:27:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/12\/img-61ace7b220e37.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Scientist who helped identify omicron slams travel bans\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-05T16:17:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-05T16:27:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/12\/img-61ace7b220e37.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"COVID-19\",\"Kenya\",\"Omicron\",\"Omicron variant\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/scientist-who-helped-identify-omicron-slams-travel-bans\",\"name\":\"Scientist who helped identify omicron slams travel bans - 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