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When alert level 1 was announced, and three of our major airports, Cape Town International, OR Tambo and King Shaka, reopened for international travel,  visitors from overseas were welcomed back to South Africa – or rather would be welcomed back if their country met certain criteria.

The process of determining which countries would be allowed to enter our borders has taken a while, but then again, it’s a delicate process that involves research and monitoring of the virus in other parts of the world.

In a press briefing that took place on Wednesday, September 30, Minister Naledi Pandor announced the list of countries banned from entering South Africa for leisure purposes (holidays, recreational tourism and so on).

Business workers, investors, and highly-skilled professionals from these nations will be permitted entry.

All those crossing our borders will have to adhere to the following:

• All visitors must present a COVID-19 test no older than 72 hours
• Masks are mandatory.
• All travellers will be screened on arrival. Those with symptoms will be required to take a COVID-19 test
• Where necessary, travellers may need to enter quarantine facilities at their own cost
• Travellers will be required to download the COVID-19 app.

The list was determined, reports Cape Town Etc, by measuring infection rates on a scale of high, medium and low risk.

Medium-risk travellers come from countries where the rates of infection and the death toll are similar to that of South Africa while low-risk travellers come from countries with lower infection and death rates.

High-risk countries, such as America have recorded infection rates and reported deaths higher than those reported in South Africa.

A word from Pandor, per Business Insider:

“We’ve agreed that we will gradually open our borders and ports of entry of international travellers, primarily in the first instance for business and some leisure travellers,” Pandor said – strongly stressing that it will be “some” leisure travellers – “and other aspects of travel such as investors coming into South Africa [and] sea crews that need to spend a short time, having docked in our ports. So we still are in a restricted domain, but we are gradually opening up.”

If a traveller from a high-risk country has spent 10 days or more in a low-risk country before trying to enter South Africa, they will be seen as entering from a low-risk country.

It’s important to note that South Africans will likewise be banned from visiting the countries on the list if they are not travelling for business purposes.

The full list of banned countries are as follows:

• Albania
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Austria
• Bahrain
• Belgium
• Bolivia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Brazil
• Chile
• Columbia
• Costa Rica
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Ecuador
• France
• Georgia
• Greece
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Honduras
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Ireland
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Luxembourg
• Maldives
• Malta
• Mexico
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Nepal
• Netherlands
• North Macedonia
• Oman
• Palestine
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Qatar
• Romania
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Suriname
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• United Emirates
• United Kingdom
• USA
• Venezuela

All countries on the African continent automatically fall outside the high-risk category.

[source:capetownetc&businessinsider]