BREAKING: South Africa opens borders

South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa has opened borders for travelers who want to visit and leave South Africa.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said his country will be opening borders from the 1st of October.

Read an extract from his statement below:

We will be allowing travel into and out of South Africa for business, leisure and other travel with effect from 1 October 2020. This is subject to various containment and mitigation measures:

- Travel may be restricted to and from certain countries that have high infection rates. A list of countries will be published based on the latest scientific data.

- Travellers will only be able to use one of the land border posts that have remained operational during the lockdown or one of the three main airports: King Shaka, OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airport.

- On arrival, travellers will need to present a negative COVID-19 test result not older than 72 hours from time of departure.

- Where a traveller has not done a COVID-19 test prior to departure, they will be required to remain in mandatory quarantine at their own cost.

- All travellers will be screened on arrival and those presenting with symptoms will be required to remain in quarantine until a repeat COVID-19 test is conducted.

- All travellers will be asked to install the COVID Alert South Africa mobile app. Countries that have used this type of app have been able to manage the coronavirus pandemic quite effectively.

In preparation for the re-opening of our borders, South African missions abroad will open for visa applications and all long-term visas will be reinstated.