JOHANNESBURG: South Africa has reopened its major land borders with neighboring nations after closing them last month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
At least 20 border posts reopened on Monday (Feb 15), with officials saying steps will be taken to avoid tightly-packed crowds of travelers gathering at immigration posts, which would spread the virus.
Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who’s to inspect the reopening of the Lebombo border post with Mozambique on Monday, mentioned South Africa is working with neighboring nations to ensure easier actions of individuals.
Other border posts to be reopened include the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe and crossing points with Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland).
Before the borders were closed in January, there were reports of problems on the immigration offices, including vacationers using fake COVID-19 tests.
“We appeal to travelers to ensure that they’ve all the requisite travel documents, together with valid COVID-19 tests, when they present themselves to officials at our borders,” mentioned Motsoaledi.
Anybody caught at a border submit with a fake COVID-19 certificate will probably be barred from visiting South Africa for a period of at least 5 years, Motsoaledi mentioned.
South Africa has seen a decline in new COVID-19 infections, leading the nation to lift some of its stricter lockdown regulations like the closure of land borders.
The emergence of the new 501Y.V2 variant has damaged the nation’s tourism with some nations and airways restricting flights from South Africa.
South Africa, with a cumulative total of nearly 1.5 million cases, including 47,000 deaths, accounts for 41 percent of all the confirmed cases in Africa’s 54 nations, representing 1.3 billion people.
After a dramatic resurgence of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in January, South Africa’s COVID-19 numbers are declining, with 1,744 new infections and 78 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
The nation is set to begin vaccinating its frontline health workers with Johnson & Johnson vaccines later this week.
South Africa scrapped its plans to begin its inoculation drive with the AstraZeneca vaccine after a small study found it to be minimally effective in stopping mild-to-moderate cases against the dominant variant within the nation.
