Mauritius bans travellers from South Africa and UK

Mauritius has banned all travellers who have been in South Africa or the United Kingdom in the past 14 days.

The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority said: ‘Following the continuous and rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus in the UK and South Africa, the following precautionary measures have been adopted by the Mauritian Authorities:

‘Non-resident travellers who come from or have been in transit in the following two countries during the last 14 days (as at 21 December 2020) will not be allowed to enter the Mauritian territory until 31 December 2020: UK, South Africa

‘We wish to reassure that all precautionary measures are being taken to protect the residents of Mauritius and other travellers.’

Mauritius is following suit after Germany announced its plans to ban South African and UK travellers on December 21 after a new variant of the virus has been detected in these countries.

This is a huge blow to the already crippled tourism industry ahead during the festive season. The editor of SA Flyer Magazine, Guy Leitch, added that this is also a setback for the recovery of the airline industry and these bans have ‘kicked the recovery period down to the middle of next year,’ according to the SABC.