South Africa has become the latest country to announce its ease of Covid-19 restrictions.
It will open its borders on October 1 to most countries, as announced by their President Cyril Ramaphosa. “We will gradually and cautiously ease restrictions on international travel, allowing travel into and out of South Africa for business, leisure and other travel with effect from October 1, 2020. Travel may be restricted to and from certain countries that have high infection rates,” he said.
Johannesburg’s OR Tambo, Cape Town International and Durban’s King Shaka airports will open from October 1.
Travellers will be required to present the negative result of a PCR test, taken no longer than 72 hours prior to the date of departure. (PCR tests are used to directly detect the presence of an antigen, rather than the presence of the body’s immune response, or antibodies.) The absence of this negative test result will require the passenger to remain in quarantine for 14 days.
Being one of the hardest hit countries by the coronavirus pandemic, South Africa shut its borders on March 27. While it had recorded the eight highest cases of the virus in the world, it has recently managed to flatten the curve with its strict country-wide lockdown.
Since South Africa sees around 17 million tourists per year.