Just as abruptly as it slammed the door on Southern Africans on November 26, Mauritius has suddenly lifted the Covid-related travel ban on travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, with effect from tomorrow, Friday January 7.
Vaccinated and tested travellers will not need to endure a quarantine.
Bans like Mauritius’s caused December to be a month of anguish for South African agents who, having booked and re-booked massive numbers of pax to MRU after the first ban was dropped on October 1, 2021, found themselves having to cancel or delay their clients’ Mauritius-bound travel, many of these for the second time around.
Full details of Covid-19 entry requirements and safety protocols are visible at: www.mauritiusnow.com.
Vaccinated guests require no quarantine, but must have a certificate of a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before departure - they will be tested again on arrival and once more on day 5.
It is mandatory for these vaxxed visitors to have proof of Covid-19-specific travel insurance (Mauritian residents and occupational permit-holders are exempt from this requirement).
Unvaccinated travellers are required to fulfil a 14-night hotel quarantine in which they may not leave their room.
Commercial passenger flights from these southern African countries are now allowed to resume. Air Mauritius has not yet made an announcement but World Leisure Holidays has said on its own Facebook group, that the first MK flight will be on Sunday January 9, and until January 31, the airline will fly five flights a week, on a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then, (says WLH), from February 01, the airline will conduct daily flights.
The Mauritian health authorities are continuing to implement a wide-ranging COVID-19 response and are presently prioritising the rollout of booster doses for those who are already double vaccinated, according to a press release from Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA). The vaccination of 15 to 18-year-olds is also said to be “well underway”.
The health authorities remain confident of their ability to manage the recent increase in infection rates and according to the release will continue to follow world-leading scientific advice in this regard.
