New Sudan COVID-19 travel rules: No extra restrictions for passengers from India

COVID-19 travelling into Sudan - Cartoon by Omar Dafallah (RD)

Sudan will no longer restrict travel from India as COVID-19 cases in the South Asian country are decreasing. Instead, all travellers need to provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test. These rules were presented in a new bulletin issued by the Civil Aviation Authority on the basis of recommendations by the Sudanese Ministry of Health.

Based on the recommendations issued by the Emergency Technical Committee^[1] of the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Authority issued a new pilots bulletin (NOTAM) yesterday to allow entry to all passengers coming from abroad, including foreigners coming from India. 

Passengers from India faced additional travel restrictions^[2] amidst concerns^[3] over the more infectious Delta-variant of the virus, which had spread rapidly in the country.

Passengers can now enter Sudan provided that they can present a valid negative COVID-19 test (PCR) taken less than 72 hours before arrival, or 96 hours for those coming from the Americas, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The new rules will be in place for those aged 8 and over.

The Director of the Civil Aviation Authority also announced that the validity period of the PCR tests will be temporarily extended to 96 hours before arrival from all countries for a period of 3 days from today, August 18, until August 21 at two o’clock in the morning local time. After these first three days, the rules as presented on the bulletin will be in place with 72 hours being the maximum validity for PCR tests for most arrivals.

In the event of a violation of these new health requirements, for example by failing to present a negative test, the offended will be subject to a 14-days quarantine period and shall bear the costs of this institutional quarantine and examination procedures.

The Federal Ministry of Health announced the registration of one more COVID-19 death and six confirmed cases* on Wednesday.

In its daily epidemiological report, the ministry stated that the number of active confirmed cases has reached 95, and another 3,145 potential cases are under review. The cumulative number of recorded COVID-19 infections amounted to 37,620.

The report also indicated the states most affected by the pandemic are Khartoum, El Gezira, and the Red Sea State^[4].

* Sudanese medics have asserted more than once that the spread of the virus is being underreported in official figures^[5]. As the symptoms resemble those of malaria to a certain extent, patients are often not requested to undergo a COVID-19 test. Hospitals are not equipped to treat people infected with the coronavirus and refuse to receive them. Another reason may be the stigmatising of the deadly disease by many Sudanese who just deny the presence of COVID-19 in the country.

References

1. ^{^} recommendations issued by the Emergency Technical Committee (www.dabangasudan.org)
2. ^{^} additional travel restrictions (www.dabangasudan.org)
3. ^{^} concerns (www.dabangasudan.org)
4. ^{^} Red Sea State (www.dabangasudan.org)
5. ^{^} the spread of the virus is being underreported in official figures (www.dabangasudan.org)