ANGOLA: Angola’s government closed its borders with seven southern Africcan Countries on Saturday in an effort to combat the spread of the new Covid-19 variant.
South Africa, Botswana, eSwatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
So far, Angola has documented 65,130 Covid-19 cases, 63,183 recoveries, and 1,733 fatalities.
According to Ado de Almeida, the country’s Minister of State and Chief of Presidential Staff, the policy would go into force on December 1.
“The decision does not apply to Angolan citizens who may return to the nation; nevertheless, they will be subject to a 14-day quarantine at home,” Mr de Almeida explained. He also stated that flights from India will restart to the nation on January 1, 2022.
The action by the Angolan government comes after South African scientists discovered a novel Covid-19’super-variant’ with several mutations.
In less than a week, at least 1,000 cases have been discovered in greater Johannesburg and adjacent regions in Gauteng province, although there have been reports of instances all over the world. In Botswana, at least four instances have been identified.
Sajid Javid, the UK’s Health Secretary, announced on Thursday that South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, and eSwatini would be added to the travel red list on Friday at noon, and flights from those countries would be temporarily banned due to growing concern about a newly discovered coronavirus variant.
Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States, among others, followed the United Kingdom in banning flights from the SADC on Friday.