Malawi excluded from countries sorrounding South Africa halted of passenger flights to UK due to new CoVID-19 variant

* Anyone who has been in South Africa and its neighbours in the previous 10 days has been banned from entering the UK

* UK and Irish nationals who can make it back to the UK will have to quarantine in hotels from Monday

* The UK government thanked South Africa for spotting the new coronavirus variant it now designates a ‘Variant under Investigation’

Maravi Express

The United Kingdom has temporarily halted flights from South Africa and its surrounding countries and said it would refuse entry to South Africans and others who had been in the southern African region in the previous 10 days, as a safety measure.

According to South African online, Business Insider, the new variant has been declared as the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant but is due to be given a name by the World Health Organisation during the course of Friday (November 26) — to be a Variant under Investigation.

“No cases have been identified in the UK,” the Business Insider governments quotes a statement from both South Africa and the UK. “We are taking these precautionary measures to protect public health and the progress we’ve made so far through our successful vaccination programme.”

The report says six countries now on the UK’s red list for travel, as of Friday are South Africa; Botswana; Lesotho; Eswatini; Zimbabwe and Namibia.

For those countries, both commercial and private planes carrying passengers have been banned from midday (on Friday) until the early hours of Sunday morning, while the UK scrambles to set up quarantine.

The Business Insider reports that even if the travel ban is lifted South Africans will still not be welcome in UK.

“From midday on Friday 26 November, non-UK and Irish residents who have been in these countries in the previous 10 days will be refused entry into England,” said the UK government.

“This does not apply to those who have stayed airside and only transited through any of these countries while changing flights.”

After the weekend, Irish and UK residents who can make it to the UK border from southern Africa will be required to quarantine in “in a government-approved facility” for 10 days, with coronavirus tests on days two and eight.

In Malawi, Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) has issued an alert that following events in other parts of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, especially South Africa and Botswana, warning residents to be on high alert for an impending CoVID-19 fourth wave.

Issued by the DHO’s Director of Health and Social Services, Dr. Gift Kawalazira today (Friday, November 26), the statement alerts the general public that “from past experience, there is usually a four-week window period from the time South Africa records an increase in numbers of CoVID-19 cases to the time Malawi follows suit with Blantyre being the hardest hit”.

“Blantyre residents are further reminded that the only effective way to protect oneself from CoViD-19 related serious illness or death is to get fully vaccinated against the disease.

“It is for this reason that Blantyre DHO would like to encourage all residents of 18 years and above that are not yet vaccinated to use the four week window period to get themselves vaccinated.”

Dr. Kawalazira stressed that getting fully vaccinated gives people bodies time to build immunity against the CoVID-19 virus before it is too late while encouraging those that are due for their second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine to go for it.