SADC calls for rescission of Covid-19 travel restrictions: “Warns the measures will hurt Southern African economies and beyond”
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has condemned the decision by the European and North American countries to impose “knee jerk reaction” ban on some Southern African countries following an announcement of the discovery of the new Covid-19 variant – Omicron – in South Africa.
But SADC Chairperson and Malawi’s President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has warned that the restrictions will harvest devastating effects on the economies of the region and beyond.
Some countries in Europe and North America have restricted travel to eight Southern African countries, which include Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, over the discovery of the new Covid-19 variant.
The British Government, for instance, announced on November 28, 2021, that following the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, whose mutations suggest greater transmissibility than previous virus strains, people arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Lesostho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibi, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola would face mandatory hotel quarantine.
“From Tuesday, all international travelers must isolate until they return a negative PCR test, which must be taken by day 2,” said the United Kingdom.
But Chakwera – through a statement issued on December 2, 2021, expressed disappointment that “these measures have been imposed without any reference to scientific evidence and are clearly discriminatory and unfair to the citizens of our region.”
“Scientists around the world agree that travel bans will have no impact in reducing the spread of the new variant. Rather, the immediate results of this action are very clear, they are hurting an already fragile tourism sector, reducing the transportation of essential goods including the much needed vaccines and test kits for Covid-19, and accelerating the contraction of economies in the region as a whole,” he warned.
“Scientists around the world agree that travel bans will have no impact in reducing the spread of the new variant. Rather, the immediate results of this action are very clear, they are hurting an already fragile tourism sector, reducing the transportation of essential goods including the much needed vaccines and test kits for Covid-19, and accelerating the contraction of economies in the region as a whole,” he warned.
The Malawi leader lamented that “these measures will embolden sceptics of Covid-19 vaccines, and seriously affect the vaccine uptake not only in Southern Africa but also in the continent and beyond.”
He said while SADC recognises the legitimate principle for each country to protect its population and minimize the risk of importation of new variants of Covid-19, the Community condemns the knee jerk reaction that followed South Africa’s groundbreaking discovery of the new variant.
Chakwera argues that the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus has so far been reported in 23 countries around the world, just in under two weeks after the announcement by the Republic of South Africa.
“It is now known that the new variant was already present in various western countries before its discovery by South Africa, including the Netherlands, which have not been subjected to a travel ban. Yet even southern African countries that have not reported a single case of the variant, such as Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi and Mozambique have been red-listed for international travel We denounce this apparent targeting of countries in our region and reiterate that the travel bans are a show of lack of global solidarity and in contradiction to the International Health Regulations (2005), that mandate countries to share information on diseases of major public health concern, in a timely manner.,” reads the statement.
Chakwera called upon all countries that have imposed the travel bans on Southern Africa to rescind their decisions to avoid further economic damage to our region and elsewhere and to avoid further hampering multilateral efforts to end this global pandemic.
“We reiterate our commitment to international economic cooperation going forward, in support of our regional integration and call for enhanced solidarity during crises of all forms, including climate change, natural disasters and pandemics. We stand in solidarity with the people of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and commit to continue supporting their efforts to address all challenges caused by this pandemic, put their countries back on the path of economic recovery, and build back better as a region,” stresses the SADC head.
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