South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday urged scientists from the BRICS countries to collaborate with South African scientists in furthering research into the Covid-19 virus and its variants.
According to a source, Ramaphosa made the decision when he selected Koleka Mlisana, Chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Covid-19, to lead a task team of South African experts in the field of genomic sequencing to collaborate with scientists from other BRICS countries.
This programme supports intra-BRICS cooperation to improve pandemic preparedness and response, as outlined in the New Delhi Declaration, which was approved during the 13th BRICS Summit in September 2021. This collaboration takes place as part of the construction of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre in an online manner. The partnership, according to Ramaphosa, will improve the BRICS countries' preparedness and response to the epidemic.
"The BRICS countries' collaboration aims to increase our understanding of the Covid-19 virus, not just for the benefit of member countries, but for the benefit of the entire world. Only by collaborating more closely and sharing information, expertise, and resources will humanity be able to defeat this pandemic. The concepts of solidarity, partnership, and mutual respect must underpin this collaboration "Ramaphosa said.
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