Mbabane: Emaswati are no longer permitted to travel to the United Kingdom of Great Britain as country imposed travel ban on some Southern African countries including Eswatini, effective January 9, 2020.
A ministerial statement issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Senator Thuli Dladla on Thursday, January 14, 2021, revealed that Eswatini is among the nine (9) Southern African countries of which the travel ban applies to. The other countries whose visitors are banned from travelling to the UK are Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Angola.
Minister Dladla said British and Irish nationals, longer-term visa holders and permanent residents are exempt from the ban, but will have to self-isolate on arrival.
Dladla said this was a temporary measure and will only be in place when the level of risk justifies the action.
This travel ban by the UK follows that of South Africa that was announced by the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a couple of days ago. The President announced that his country will close their borders until February 15, 2020. He said only certain cross borders will be permitted to get into the country and those travellers include those who seek medical assistance, scholars, fuel transporters to name but a few.
The travel ban imposed by countries are justified by the resurgence of the COVID-19 infections around the globe. Countries are faced with the second wave of the pandemic which has claimed close two (2) million lives across the globe and it is almost a year now ever since the first case was identified in China.
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