Germany and UAE Remove Namibia from High-Risk COVID-19 Lists

Reacting to the announcement, the head of the Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN), Gitta Paetzold hailed the re-categorisation for Southern Africa as no longer high risk. “It is very good news, albeit long overdue, as the COVID-19 cases in our part of the world have been much lower than in the European Union for months now. This means after the worst state at the end of November, when this region was deemed and categorised high risk with variant status, due to the discovery of Omicron, now being no longer high risk means all travel warnings and regulations have been lifted. No quarantine due on arrival (return) and for fully vaccinated travellers,” she noted.

Further, she explained that ease of travel from Germany and the EU is almost back to pre-COVID levels, as Europe does no longer even require vaccinated travellers to do PRC tests before travelling to the EU. “Namibia is, thus, officially categorised a safe destination, which enables the travel sector to forge ahead with marketing and sales. We hope that soon, global travel will agree on one international travel protocol for all, as sporadic changes to travel restrictions are detrimental to tourism revival,” she appealed.

According to her, the key to now maintain Namibia’s status as a safe and desirable travel destination is clear communication and strong national high-level messaging of Namibian efforts and achievements in managing the pandemic.

In another positive development, the Ministry of International Relations welcomed the lifting of the travel restrictions on travellers from Namibia by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after an engagement on 21 January 2022 between International Relations Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Sheik Shakhboot Nahyan Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Affairs Minister. The United Arab Emirates announced the travel ban would be lifted on 29 January 2022.

Source: New Era. https://neweralive.na/posts/namibia-off-germanys-high-risk-list