Low corona numbers: South Africa welcomes tourists from all over the world again

South Africa relaxes corona restrictions and switches to “Level 1” of its Covid 19 strategy. This means that tourists from all over the world will be able to enter the country again as early as the 1st of October 2020. This step has been made possible by the recent sharp drop in the number of infections, which is now relatively low, as well as the sufficient capacity of the health system.

Details of the updated regulations are to be published by the individual ministries in the coming days. According to a statement from South African Tourism, however, it is already clear that the restrictions on international travel will be lifted gradually and carefully:

• From the 1st of October 2020, travel to South Africa will be permitted again. This applies to both business and vacation travel.
• Entry from certain countries may be restricted if they have high infection rates. A list will be published in the near future. However, Germany will most likely not be on it.
• Entering and leaving the country is only allowed via the airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. By land, entering and leaving the country is only possible via a border crossing, which was already in operation during the previous restrictions.
• Upon arrival in South Africa, all travelers must present a negative Covid 19 test result that was not older than 72 hours at departure.
• Passengers who have not passed a corona test prior to departure for South Africa must enter the mandatory 14-day quarantine at their own expense.
• If, on arrival in South Africa, travellers show known Covid-19 symptoms, quarantine is mandatory until the results of a test are available.
• All travelers must install the app “COVID Alert South Africa” for contact tracking on their smartphones.

Despite the relaxation, masks are still mandatory in public places throughout South Africa. Also the keeping of distance must be strictly adhered to. The curfew has been reduced to the time between midnight and 4 a.m. Alcohol may only be sold from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. At meetings, a maximum of 250 people are allowed indoors and 500 people outdoors. However, only 50 percent of the capacity of the venue may be used.

Two months ago, South Africa registered around 12,000 new corona cases per day. In the meantime, this number has fallen to less than 2,000. Most infections have so far been detected in Gauteng Province with the metropolis of Johannesburg (33.1%) – followed by KwaZulu-Natal (17.9%), Western Cape with Cape Town (16.7%) and Eastern Cape (13.4%). The two provinces Limpopo and Mpumalanga, where the Kruger National Park is located, only achieved a nationwide share of 2.2 and 4.0 percent, respectively.

Click here to visit the Covid-19-webseite of the South African government