President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday 16 September announced that the country would be moving to Lockdown Alert Level 1 as of midnight on Sunday, 20 September. This move means more areas of the economy will open, and that certain restrictions have been lifted.
For travelers, the easing of restrictions include:
- The opening of borders for international travel from 1 October 2020 subject to certain conditions which include:
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- Travel may be restricted to and from certain countries deemed high risk
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- The opening of three international airports for international flights. These are OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, King Shaka International Airport in KwaZulu-Natal, and Cape Town International Airport in the Western Cape
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- The opening of a limited number of land border posts
- Important regulations regarding international travelers are:
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- On arrival, travelers must present a negative COVID-19 test result conduct no later than 72 hours from the time of departure
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- All travelers will be screened on arrival
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- If necessary, travelers will need to enter mandatory quarantine facilities
This is good news, and if you’re looking at travelling any time soon, please visit https://www.aatravel.co.za/ to book flights, accommodation, and car hire. Importantly, though, the full details of the allowable travel regulations must still be published, so wait until they are before making final arrangements. These are expected to be gazetted in the next few days.
Other measures announced by the President include the easing of the curfew from 22h00 – 05h00 to 00h00 – 04h00, the increase on the limit of person allowed inside a venue to 50% of normal capacity to a maximum of 250 people, and the increase from 50 to 100 on the number of people allowed to attend funerals.
In line with the government’s Risk Adjusted Strategy relating to COVID-19, masks and hand sanitising remain mandatory for all persons in public spaces, and social distancing of at 1.5 metres remains in force.