The UAE announced that travelers from Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will be banned from entering the country, and flights from Nigeria and South Africa have been banned entirely.
Flights from Nigeria are suspended until “further notice,” while flights originating in South Africa will be suspended until July 6. Entry for travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Namibia has been suspended indefinitely since June 21, 2021. The bans are a result of fears of a new variant of COVID-19 which may be more resistant to vaccines.
Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda were also added to the travel suspension list earlier this month, effective from June 11. Across Southern Africa, governments are ordering their countries into stricter lockdown regulations in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Health officials are urgently appealing for vaccines to combat a third wave of Covid-19 surging across the continent.
