Despite South Africa’s airports being open for international travel, a host of countries have banned travellers from the country following the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant.
According to Health Policy Watch, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in December 2020 that the body is ‘working with scientists to understand how these genetic changes affect how the virus behaves’.
A number of countries have banned travellers from South Africa.
Domestic tourism for South Africa seems to be the only kind of travel they will be doing since the country has gained such a bad reputation with the discovery of the new variant.
South Africa hopes to see a rebound in tourism but the suspension of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine rollout has led to a delay.
‘The UK has reported that this new variant transmits more easily but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality,’ Ghebreyesus said.
‘The bottom line is that we need to suppress transmission of all SARS-COV-2 viruses as quickly as we can. The more we allow it to spread, the more opportunity it has to change.’
South Africa does allow international visitors with a negative COVID-19 test result not older than 72 hours. Travellers leaving and entering the country need to fill out a health questionnaire available on the Department of Health’s website.
Those without valid certification are required to quarantine at a government-appointed facility for 10 days at their own cost.
As a result of this fast-spreading variant, called 501.V2, a number of countries have closed their borders to travellers from certain destinations, including South Africa.
A mapping tool developed by travel website Skyscanner revealed that since 18 April, South Africa has 84 major restrictions from other countries and these countries could either be closed for entry, they have suspended travel, or entry may only be possible for those that are citizens.
However, South Africa does have 68 other countries where travel is possible, but you need to meet those travel requirements before entry.
The following countries do not currently allow visitors from South Africa:
– Samoa
– Germany
– Turkey
– Belgium
– Nigeria
– Hong Kong
– Switzerland
– Denmark
– Vietnam
– Panama
– Brazil
Picture: Unsplash
