South African travel agents say they have not received any warnings from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) regarding travel to China, despite reports of a growing chikungunya outbreak.
DIRCO has confirmed that it is monitoring the situation but has not issued any travel advisories. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases has also not issued a formal warning but has provided regular updates on travel-related cases and urged South Africans to take precautions against mosquito bites.
By July 26 there had been nearly 5 000 confirmed chikungunya cases in Guangdong Province in South-East China. Globally, 35 000 cases had been reported in countries including India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Pakistan and China by early July.
Despite this, South African travel agents say they have seen little concern from their clients. Anneri Papenfus from Flight Centre Independent in Brooklyn, Pretoria, said she had not had any questions regarding travelling to China but there had been clients enquiring about the situation in Mauritius.
Papenfus, who recently travelled to Mauritius, noticed that hotels and businesses had taken preventive measures to safeguard visitors.
The World Health Organization said chikungunya was a mosquito-borne viral disease found across tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is spread to humans by a bite from an infected mosquito and cannot be passed from human to human. In total, there have been approximately 240 000 chikungunya cases and 90 related deaths across 16 countries since the beginning of the year.
