South Africa: Emirates extends South African travel ban

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Emirates Airlines on Monday announced it was extending its South African travel ban until at least 10 January.

This is despite the fact that other major travel routes to and from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States have reopened following blanket bans in November.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a ban on travellers from South Africa within 48 hours of confirmation that the Omicron variant had been detected in Botswana.

The ban, which exempted cargo carriers, was due to last throughout December, with Emirates later clarifying that it would fly passengers into, but not out of Johannesburg. Passenger operations to and from Durban and Cape Town remained suspended.

Emirates has also added further restrictions on travellers from 10 other African nations, including Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

-0- PANA CU/RA  3Jan2022