Travel Africa: List of country restrictions

The African Tourism Board released a list of current known restrictions in regards to COVID19 in Africa. The African Tourism Board has been outspoken and is urging all countries in Africa to close movement and borders.

Here is the latest known list of measurements in Africa with no guarantee of accuracy.

Algeria

The government said it would suspend air and sea travel with Europe from March 19. Authorities had previously halted flights with Morocco, Spain, France and China.

Angola

Angola closed air, land and sea borders.

Benin

The city has suspended various international flights and people coming into the country via air are being kept under 14-days mandatory isolation. Moreover, people in Benin are advised to wear masks and go outside home only if required.

Botswana

Botswana’s government announced Tuesday it was closing all border crossing points with immediate effect.

Burkina Faso

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on 20 March closed airports, land borders and imposed a nationwide curfew to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Cabo Verde

Consequently, Cabo Verde Airlines informs its customers that in view of this situation, and taking into account the action of the Government of Cabo Verde to close the country´s borders, Cabo Verde Airlines will suspend all its transport activities from 18-03-2020 and for a period of at least 30 days.

Cameroon

 Cameroon closed all borders

Chad

 Borders have been shut and a ban imposd on public gatherings including prayers in mosques. Other control measures have been the disinfection of the N’djamena Central Market by authorities.

Comoros

Borders are closed

Congo (Republic)

The Republic of the Congo has closed its borders.

Cote D’Ivoire

On March 20, the Government of Cote d’Ivoire announced that the land, aviation and maritime borders will close on midnight, Sunday March 22 for an indeterminate period of time.  Cargo shipments will not be affected.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Borders are closed and travel banned to and from the capital after four people die from virus and more than 50 new cases are confirmed.

Djibouti

Djibouti wants citizens to stay home, borders seem to remain open

Egypt

Egypt suspended all air traffic at its airports from March 19 until March 31, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered.

Eritrea

Flights banned .

All public transport vehicles – buses, minibusses, and taxis – in all the cities will stop services from 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, March 27th. The use of trucks for public transport is illicit and punishable by law.

With the exception of those who may be granted a special permit by the competent authority in urgent circumstances, all public transport services from one Region to another, or from one city to another, will likewise be stopped from 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, 27 March 2020.

Equatorial Guinea

The country declared a State of Alarm on March 19 and closed borders.

Eswatini

Borders are closed in the Kingdom of Eswatini, except for essential travel.

Gabon

 Gabon has banned flights from affected countries

The Gambia

The Gambia decided on March 23 to close its borders with neighboring Senegal for 21 days as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, local media reported on Monday.

Ghana

Starting on March 17, Ghana banned entry to anyone who has been to a country with more than 200 coronavirus cases in the previous 14 days, unless they were official residents or Ghanaian nationals.

The country closed all borders from March 22 and ordered a mandatory quarantine for anyone who entered the country before midnight that day.

Kenya

Kenya suspended travel from any country with reported COVID-19 cases.

“Only Kenyan citizens and any foreigners with valid residence permits will be allowed to come in, provided they proceed on self-quarantine,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

Lesotho

Lesotho will implement its own lockdown from Sunday midnight until April 21 to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The mountain kingdom is entirely surrounded by South Africa and the economies of the two countries are intertwined.

Liberia

On March 24, 2020, the neighboring Ivory Coast announced it closed land borders with Liberia and Guinea in a measure to contain COVID-19. The government has already implemented several measures in two regions within the country, including a ban on public gatherings; school and houses of worship closures as well as suspension of flights in order to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Libya

Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli suspended all flights at the Misrata Airport for three weeks. Borders have also been closed.

Madagascar

Starting from March 20, there will be no commercial passenger flights to and from Europe for 30 days. Travelers arriving from affected countries must self-quarantine for 14 days.

Malawi

There are no cases of Coronavirus. Malawi has ordered opposition political parties to halt coronavirus awareness campaigns, calling the efforts a politicization of the pandemic.  While Malawi has yet to confirm a case of the virus, President Peter Mutharika last week declared COVID-19 a national disaster and opposition parties have been going door-to-door to educate people on symptoms and prevention.  

Mali

Mali will indefinitely suspend flights from countries affected by the virus starting on March 19, except for cargo flights.

Mauritania

The case is an expatriate from a yet to be disclosed country, in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. After test results came in positive, charter flights to France were canceled. Friday prayers were canceled.

Mauritius

On 18 March 2020, the Mauritian Prime Minister announced that all passengers, including Mauritians and foreigners, will be prohibited from entering Mauritian territory for the next 15 days, which started at 6:00 GMT (10:10 am Mauritian time). Passengers leaving Mauritius will be allowed to leave. Cargo airplanes and ships will also be allowed to enter the country. Some Mauritians who were stranded in different airports around the world were allowed to enter the Mauritian territory on 22 March 2020, they had to mandatorily spend 14 days in isolation at the different premises provided by the government.

On 24 March 2020, the Prime Minister announced that the country will be under complete lock-down until the 31st of March 2020 with only essential services such as police, hospitals, dispensaries, private clinics, firefighters and banks being open. All other activities would be banned during the curfew period.

Morocco

On March 14, Morocco said it would halt flights to and from 25 countries, extending an earlier ban that covered China, Spain, Italy, France and Algeria.

The countries affected are Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Senegal, Switzerland, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE.

Mozambique

Mozambique has joined the growing number of African countries announcing increasingly restrictive measures to halt the spread of coronavirus pandemic by closing schools and tightening border controls.

Namibia

The Namibian government is suspending inbound and outbound travel to and from Qatar, Ethiopia, and Germany with immediate effect for a period of 30 days.

Niger

Niger has taken several measures to prevent the entry of the coronavirus, including closing its land borders and international airports in Niamey and Zinder. 

Nigeria

On March 18, the government announced it was restricting entry into the country for travelers from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the US, Norway, the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Those coming from high-risk countries are asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

Nigeria expanded its restrictions on March 21 announcing it will close its two main international airports in the cities of Lagos and Abuja from March 23 for one month.

The country also plans to suspend rail services starting on March 23.

Rwanda

As a response to the continued increase in the number of cases, President Paul Kagame implemented a nationwide shutdown that took effect midnight March 21. 

Senegal

Senegal’s borders are closed

Seychelles

Ban on entry to UK travelers. Some flights suspended. Currently, only one flight on Ethiopian Airlines is flying to Seychelles.

In the latest travel advice from the Seychelles Department of Health on Wednesday, no passengers from any country (except returning Seychellois citizens) will be allowed to enter Seychelles.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone closed borders.

Somalia

Somalia has banned all international flights.

South Africa

South Africa barred entry to foreign travellers arriving from or transiting through high-risk countries, including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the US, the UK and China.

South Africans were also advised to cancel or postpone all non-essential foreign travel.

South African Airways announced on March 20 it would suspend international flights until May 31.

South Sudan

South Sudan closed its borders

Sudan

On March 16, Sudan closed all airports, ports and land crossings. Only humanitarian, commercial and technical support shipments were excluded from the restrictions.

Tanzania

No information about restrictions

Togo

After an extraordinary council of ministers on 16 March, the government announced they would establish an XOF 2 billion fund to fight the pandemic. They also established the following measures: suspending flights from Italy, France, Germany, and Spain; canceling all international events for three weeks; requiring people who were recently in a high-risk country to self-isolate; closing their borders; and prohibiting events with more than 100 people effective 19 March.

Tunisia

Tunisia, which declared 24 cases of the virus, closed mosques, cafes and markets, closed its land borders and suspended international flights on March 16.

Tunisia also imposed a curfew from 6pm to 6am starting on March 18, Tunisia’s president said, tightening the measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus.

Uganda

On March 18, Uganda restricted travel to some of the affected countries such as Italy.

Uganda suspended all passenger planes in and out of the country starting from March 22. Cargo planes will be exempted.

Zambia

In a national address on Wednesday, President Edgar Lungu said the government would not close its borders because it would weaken the economy.

He, however, suspended all international flights, except those landing and departing from the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in the capital, Lusaka.

Public gatherings such as conferences, weddings, funerals, festivals are also to be restricted to at least 50 people while restaurants must operate only on a take-away and delivery basis, the president announced.

All bars, night clubs, cinemas, gyms and casinos must close, he ordered.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa also announced late Friday that the country will go into lockdown from Monday, March 30, in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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