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Russian, South African leaders to pool efforts in tackling coronavirus amid new strain

The leaders also discussed the details of preparations to the Russian-Africa summit, the cooperation within the BRICS framework and the issues of trade and economic cooperation

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed pooling efforts in tackling the coronavirus pandemic over the phone with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday.

"The heads of states agreed to pool efforts in tackling the coronavirus infection pandemic, particularly amid the emergence of the new Omicron strain," the report said.

The leaders of Russia and South Africa also discussed the details of preparations to the Russian-Africa summit, the cooperation within the BRICS framework and the issues of trade and economic cooperation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated the B.1.1.529 variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa as a "Variant of Concern" and assigned it the Greek letter Omicron last week. In its statement, the WHO noted that this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Moreover, according to preliminary data, the risk of contracting this variant is substantially higher than with the Delta variant.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on December 3 that no cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant had been registered in Russia so far.

Russian nationals do not need a visa for visiting South Africa. There are no direct flights between Russian and South African cities.

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