Eba Kandovazu
UNITED Kingdom citizens will no longer have to worry about traveling to Namibia, after the ban was removed. Namibians too will no longer have to worry about being labeled as traveling from a COVID-19 red zone country, after the UK lifted Namibia as a “red list” country as of next week Monday.
With Namibia on the red list placement,people in the UK are banned from traveling to Namibia. It also means anyone traveling from Britain to Namibia faces a mandatory 10-day quarantine when returning home, even if they are fully vaccinated and test negative for coronavirus, which is detrimental especially for Namibia’s tourism sector.
“This decision taken by the Government of the UK follows, after MIRCO engaged the High Commission of the United Kingdom in Windhoek, while the High Commission of Namibia in London also engaged at all levels with the UK Government on this issue. Consideration should also be given to the fact that the curve of infections in Namibia is clearly flattening, the proportion of severe cases and fatalities is lower in Namibia than in many other countries and that increased genome sequencing is being undertaken in Namibia.
MIRCO wishes to express sincere gratitude to all those working behind the scenes, who assisted in having Namibia removed from the red list,” International Relations Ambassador Penda Naanda said.
According to Naanda,the onus is now on Namibia to demonstrate that it is a safe country to travel to, a task which the Namibian tourism sector, as well as the Ministry of International Relations and Corporation, has taken to heart.
“We will however, also, have to continue to advocate for vaccination in order to achieve herd immunity and implement health protocols to keep our nation as healthy as possible,”He stressed.
