What not to do: ban travel. Scenes at South Africa’s OR Tambo International airport after the first flight bans were announced. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
The patently ineffective “UK red list” travel ban imposed on South Africa and 10 other countries by Britain has been
chucked out.
In announcing this on Tuesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid admitted that the Covid omicron variant had now spread so widely that the red list was no longer effective.
No sir, we would like to suggest that it was never effective in the first place and your imposition of it upon us was knee-jerk, not informed by science and arrogantly colonialist in nature.
Why do we say that? Because you didn’t ban most of the rest of the world, despite strong indications that omicron is already taking hold across many areas of the planet.
ALSO READ: Travel ban: SA and 10 other African countries taken off UK red list
To add insult to injury, Mr Javid, you claimed in your parliament that it was the UK which warned the world about the dangers of the variant. No it was not.
It was South African scientists who identified it first and shared their knowledge with the rest of the world… only to be punished by you and others who also have an irrational fear of the “unclean” Third World bogeyman.
Still, it’s better late than never that you have come to your senses. And the lifting of the ban may be in time to help stimulate the battered South African tourist industry.
Now, Britons can book their South African (warm and sunny) holidays in the knowledge that they will not have to spend an illogical and expensive two weeks in a government “quarantine hotel” on their return.
South Africans – some of whom haven’t seen their British-based relatives since the pandemic began – are now able to visit the UK without having to pay the R40 000-plus quarantine ransom.
Perhaps now we will have a little bit of joy in our festive season.
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