Sudan extends ban on UK, Dutch, and South African arrivals

Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority has extended the ban on entry of passengers from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and South Africa into Sudan until January 13. This extends the existing ban that has been in place since December 22, imposed following the emergence of new, more infectious, strains of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom and in South Africa. The initial ban was set to expire today.

The UK, the Netherlands, and South Africa are all subject to degrees of lockdown. This intensified in the UK and South Africa after new mutations of the virus were identified to have originated there.

In a statement today, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson conceded that more that one million people in England are now infected with coronavirus.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on December 28 that the country would go into ‘alert level 3’ lockdown.

Initial reports by scientists suggest that the new mutations spread more rapidly, but are not necessarily more deadly or resistant to the vaccines being rolled out worldwide. However all scientific sources agree further research is necessary for this to be verified.

As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, the COVID-19 prevalence rate in the capital Khartoum reached 20.1 per 10,000 residents. Director Mahjoub Menoufeli of Khartoum state’s Ministry of Health called this “a dangerous indicator”.

The central Sudanese state of Sennar reported four new COVID-19 cases yesterday, two were recorded in Sennar, and one each of East Sennar and Sinja.

The cumulative number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic reached 354. 48 of them died, and 278 recovered.

El Migdad Jadallah, Director of Health Emergencies and Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health of Sennar, explained in a press conference in the capital Sinja that of the currently active 28 cases, four of them are being treated in an isolation centre in Sennar town, three others in a hospital ward in Wad Madani, capital of neighbouring El Gezira, and 17 cases are in home isolation.

He said that medical teams are visiting the localities to raise awareness among the people, trace suspected cases, and advise their relatives what how to deal with them.

The federal Ministry of Health has not updated its COVID-19 statistics since December 22, when it announced a total of 23,316 coronavirus cases registered since March 2020, including 1,468 deaths and 13,524 recoveries.

In December, Radio Dabanga reported that 8.4 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be provided to specified target groups in the first quarter of 2021, depending on global production and waiting lists.