Sisipho Ntsabo
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African countries introduce travel restrictions on India

Africa’s global mobility continues to suffer as the world watches the COVID-19 crisis in India. Several African countries have introduced travel restrictions, and some have temporarily banned travel from India. This comes as India’s coronavirus cases skyrocket and new infection numbers reach record numbers.

Africa is largely dependent on India for their vaccine supply as India, whose Serum Institute is the source of the AstraZeneca vaccines delivered by the global COVAX project. India has placed an export ban on vaccines due to the increased domestic demand. This has adversely affected Africa’s rollout of its vaccination programs.

Countries in Africa have introduced new travel restrictions in response to India’s COVID-19 crisis:

  • Malawi – Malawi’s Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has also announced a ban on travellers from India.
  • Nigeria – Nigeria’s chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, announced in a statement that the country will ban travellers coming from India from May 4.
  • Tanzania – Tanzania’s health ministry announced that Tanzania has suspended flights to and from India amid the Covid-19 surge in India.
  • Kenya – Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe has announced that flights to and from India will be temporarily banned for the next two weeks from May 1st.
  • Uganda – Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng reported that Uganda has so far recorded one case of the Indian strain of the coronavirus. “Further to the existing Covid-19 control measures, all travellers and passengers originating from India shall not be allowed into Uganda starting at midnight of May 1, 2021,” she said.

 

Not only is the COVID-19 a threat to Africa’s vaccine supply but also global economic growth. India is the world’s sixth-largest economy and is a contributor to economic growth. These new strict travel restrictions affect the airlines and airports, and businesses dependent on the travel industry.

One of the industries heavily dependent on the travel industry is the global mobility industry. PWC reports that “40% of companies told us the pandemic has had a moderate or significant impact on the ability of mobile employees to continue with business as usual. Two-thirds of companies who had employees on secondment or transfer at the outset of the pandemic had offered them the option of returning home. As for future relocations, many have been postponed, but 58% of surveyed companies said they were allowing employees to start new roles from their home country.”

This is an adverse effect for the global mobility industry in Africa, as smaller African economies depend on the mobility of employees from large transnational companies. The ripple effect on smaller economies is much to think about. As Relocation Africa, a global mobility and immigration company, we know have seen and felt the struggles of this pandemic. We can only hope that in the near future, things will look up. In our next article, we speak in greater detail about the COVID-19 impact on global mobility.

At Relocation Africa, we specialise in mobility, research, immigration and remuneration. Feel free to contact us. We are always happy to help.

Andrew Stegmann

India Has Moved to COVID Phase Unlock 2.0 As Of 1 July 2020

Lynn Mackenzie, J.D., LLM.
(Courtesy of Shradha Mithal, Resettle).

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, announced further relaxations in Unlock 2.0 that begins on 1st July 2020.

However, states and union territories have been given the power to further prohibit certain activities outside of containment zones within their respective states.

Macroeconomic indicators such as consumption of fuel and electricity, mobility, and retail financial transactions have seen an uptick.

The broad guidelines of Unlock 2.0 include:
• Domestic flights will be further expanded while international air travel will continue in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat repatriation mission.
• Night curfew timings are being further relaxed and will be now in force from 10 pm to 5 am. The exception being essential activities.
• Apart from curbs in containment zones, there will be no restriction on “inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods”.
• Metro rail, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls, and similar places to remain shut
• Ban remains on social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions, and other large congregations.
• Schools and colleges remain shut till 31st July 2020
• The number of persons allowed inside a shop at a time had been limited to five.

Wearing of masks, social distancing (6 feet), and maintaining general hygiene is encouraged. Work from home as far as possible is to be followed.

For more information about the above, please see this PDF document.

The content of this article is provided for general information purposes. The provision of this article does not constitute legal advice or opinion of any kind; no advisory or fiduciary relationship is created between Relocation Africa and any other person accessing or using this article. Relocation Africa will not be liable for any damages or loss arising from using any part of this article.

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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South African Home Affairs Makes Concessions for Chinese Nationals Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has made concessions for Chinese nationals.

  • If on a 4 year intra-company transfer work visa which expires on or before 3 July 2020, one may change their status to a visitors visa in terms of Section 11(2) of the SA Immigration Act, to continue employment for a further 6 months.
  • Visitors may extend their visas for a second time, for a further 3 months.
  • If a visitors visa expired on 1 December 2019, one may apply for an extension without being penalized.

This concession is only applicable to Chinese nationals, and the concession expires on 31 July 2020.

To contact the DHA, click here.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Angola Cables and TM Global Successfully Establish Proof of Concept For a New Undersea Cable Route

Most of the global internet traffic today utilizes infrastructure located primarily in the northern hemisphere to link Asia, Europe and North America. Meanwhile, the southern hemisphere, which includes parts of Asia, Africa and South America is heavily connected via links coming from the North as well. However, the traffic to the southern region currently travels a longer route which may affect the internet experience of the end-users.

Aware of the increasing needs for a more efficient and low latency route, TM GLOBAL, the global and wholesale arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and Angola Cables have been exploring another alternative via a new express route connecting the southern hemisphere subsea cables from Asia directly to South America. A Proof of Concept (PoC) testing is being conducted by both parties leveraging two (2) cable systems; the South Africa Far East cable system (SAFE), connecting Malaysia to Angola, and South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) connecting Angola to Brazil owned by both parties respectively.

The preliminary PoC results have showed up a reduction in the latency reading as compared to the current northern hemisphere routes. This may lead to a significant improvement in the global internet traffic routing quality especially on data connectivity services to the southern hemisphere.

The new express route is set to provide a shorter path connecting Asia to South America while bypassing the Middle East and Europe, hence delivering a better customer experience. The low latency routing will also provide the catalyst for the creation of more effective digital ecosystems that are developing within the southern hemisphere. This initiative is expected to transform data transfer between countries and economies, enabling more robust connection amongst back-haul providers, content/application providers and content delivery network providers in a more efficient data sharing process. The benefits will be far-reaching, especially for financial institutions in conveying market-sensitive information or multinational companies in sharing large amounts of data and applications to users in the US, Latin America or the Far East region.

TM GLOBAL and Angola Cables believe that this initiative will provide better options for service providers in growing their business and expanding their reach to new and niche markets. Both parties will continue to explore other potential collaboration areas in penetrating new market opportunities and serving the customers who are looking for diversity, high resiliency route and better quality of service.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].