The United States has praised South Africa for quickly identifying the new Covid-19 strain called Omicron and sharing this information with the world — a barely veiled slap at China's handling of the original outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken spoke with South Africa's international relations and cooperation minister, Naledi Pandor, and they discussed cooperation on vaccinating people in Africa against Covid-19, the State Department said.

“Secretary Blinken specifically praised South Africa's scientists for the quick identification of the Omicron variant and South Africa's government for its transparency in sharing this information, which should serve as a model for the world,” the statement said.