Africa quarantine: Government accused of unfair rules over blanket policy for entire continent

‘The current approach is a scandal. It is not based on geography or science,’ said safari camp owner Paul Goldstein

Kenya has a rate of new infections barely one-50th of the UK

Africa is being treated unfairly by the UK government’s blanket quarantine policy, a travel organisation claims.

The African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA) says the Foreign Office is applying different criteria for Africa than for other parts of the world.

The organisation has launched a campaign called Open African Travel – and is asking anyone “who has a love of Africa” to press for restrictions to be eased.

ATTA says: “Africa has some of the lowest Covid numbers in the world and yet the Foreign Office is advising against all travel to Africa.

"African countries have been opening their borders since the start of September.”

It is calling for the FCDO and Public Health England “to apply the same Foreign Office travel metrics to African countries that are applied for the rest of the world".

“This will lead to air bridges being created to countries that you can travel safely to in times of Covid,” ATTA says.

“The African continent relies heavily on international travel for £130bn income and 25 million jobs.

“More eyes on the ground in Africa reduces poaching of rhino, elephant and pangolin and subsistence killing of animals for bush meat."

The latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show that the UK has a rate of new infections that is around 130 times higher than Egypt and Rwanda, 46 times higher than Kenya and six times higher than South Africa.

Paul Goldstein, co-owner of Kicheche safari camps in Kenya, said: “The double whammy of unjustified Foreign Office advice and quarantine is crippling millions of people.

“The current approach is a scandal. It is not based on geography or science. People want to travel and cannot. The FCDO advice should be lifted on the whole of Africa.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Measures are in place to protect public health, with decisions on travel corridors kept under constant review. 

“Those decisions take into account a wide range of factors, including a country’s virus incidence rate, testing capacity, and the quality of data available.”

The call comes as the UK government appeared to soften its quarantine stance. With British infection rates soaring, it appears that the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) is no longer the established threshold for new cases – which the UK currently now exceeds by a factor of almost seven.