Secy. Blinken discusses Omicron variant in South Africa

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Secy. Blinken discusses Omicron variant in South Africa

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pictured. (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom

UPDATED 12:16 PM PT – Monday, August 8, 2022

Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised South Africa's discovery of the Omicron variant and efforts to fight the coronavirus. During a meeting in Pretoria with the nation's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor on Monday, Blinken touched on developments in infrastructure and health the nation has made.

The US official thanked South Africa's world class scientists for their role in identifying the Omicron variant and progress on developing vaccines. Blinken noted the United States and Africa's joint work on HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis has given them a strong foundation to collaborate effectively on COVID-19 and other emerging health threats.

"So we'll keep working together, including under the COVID-19 Global Action Plan on this pandemic," he stated. "But critically and, as you said, to try to strengthen global health security going forward and more broadly because even as we get through this pandemic, we know that there will be others lurking. And if we don't learn the lessons and act on the lessons of this pandemic and create a stronger global health system, then really bad on us."

In the U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue, we had a robust discussion of issues, including health, climate, trade, and infrastructure. Our nations are committed to working together toward a more secure, democratic, and prosperous South Africa, African continent, and world. pic.twitter.com/n4q0PoZXJy

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 8, 2022

Blinken began a three-nation visit to Africa on Sunday, which also includes stops in Congo and Rwanda.

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