Africa: the 17 countries on the UK’s ‘red list’.

The United Kingdom has published new travel arrangements for visitors from 17 African countries intending to visit the island. Travellers will have to quarantine themselves for 10 days in government-approved hotels and will have to pay for their stay themselves. Travellers will pay a bill of at least US$100 (CFAF 54,018) per night.

The UK had previously banned the entry of passengers from 11 African countries, including South Africa, in an effort to prevent the spread of the new variant of Covid-19. It had made public the 15 February deadline to begin restricting travellers from areas perceived to be red zones.

From now on, travellers arriving in England from 33 countries will have to pay some 2,000 euros (more than 1.3 million CFA francs) for 10 days’ isolation in a pre-booked hotel room. Failure to comply with the rules could result in fines of up to 11,500 euros (more than 7.5 million CFA francs) or even 10 years in prison, according to the British government.

As with all other travellers, in addition to having a negative test 72 hours before arrival, these travellers must also be tested on the second and eighth days of their quarantine. Travellers must pre-book on a government website.

The 17 African countries included in the red zone are : Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.