Progress made in relaxing of travel bans on SA: Pandor
International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor says there's some progress in getting the travel restrictions recently imposed on South Africa relaxed.
Several nations shut their borders to Southern Africa late last month after scientists in South Africa identified and alerted the world to the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
At a briefing on Tuesday, Minister Pandor said they were working to change this.
"We have been and continue to engage all countries that have imposed what we term unscientific and discriminatory travel bans on our country and region.
"We hope that our diplomacy will bear greater fruit. Some countries have indicated their intention to lift restrictions which are inflecting much harm on our economy, society and on families."
Pandor says some of the countries who rushed to close their borders had cases of the new Covid-19 strain in their own backyards but remained silent.
"They said nothing and have ignored signs and warnings from the World Health Organisation and the United Nationals in terms of clinical responses to the pandemic and the avoidance of travel bans and they have thus imposed a terrible ban, an apartheid travel ban on South Africa and Southern African countries."
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