The UK has banned all arrivals from Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo from Friday to stop the spread of the South Africa variant of Covid-19, Grant Shapps, the transport minister, says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All passengers from these countries except British and Irish Nationals and third country nationals with residents rights will be denied entry,” he said in a tweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are continuing to monitor Covid-19 rates and new strains of the virus across the globe, this alongside the suspension of travel corridors and pre-departure testing will help protect our borders,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month passengers from 11 other southern African countries were banned from entering the UK for similar reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday said the continent’s Covid-19 death rate now stands at 2.5%, higher than the global average of 2.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It listed Democratic Republic of Congo among 21 African nations with a death rate above 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authorities in Tanzania have downplayed the extent of the epidemic in the country and have not been releasing any data on infections or deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June last year, the Tanzanian President John Magufuli declared that the country was “coronavirus-free” thanks to prayers by citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern over the country\u2019s strategy on Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authorities from Tanzania or the DR Congo have not yet commented on the development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BBC News Africa<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UK has banned all arrivals from Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo from Friday to stop the spread of the South Africa variant of Covid-19, Grant Shapps, the transport minister, says. “All passengers from these countries except British and Irish Nationals and third country nationals with residents rights will be denied entry,” he said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":20978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[633,818,5712],"class_list":["post-20977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-covid-19","tag-dr-congo","tag-john-magufuli"],"yoast_head":"\n