Insights

What FCM would like you inform you of during South Africa's National Lockdown:

FCM Travel Solutions and WorldAware are closely monitoring the outbreak of 2019-Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in China and imported cases globally.

South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it will immediately suspend all regional flights until 31 May 2020, in addition to all international flights suspended last week.

The countries were added to a list in a travel advisory issued by the Department of International Relations & Co-operation on Tuesday (March 18).

Effective 19 March 2020, Mauritius will close its borders to all foreign nationals. Three people in the country have tested positive for COVID-19. All passengers, including transits, will not be permitted to enter the country for a period of 14 days.

Australia has taken the decision to close their borders to all foreign travellers as of 21:00pm AEDT on 20 March 2020 (13:00pm RSA time). The travel ban comes into effect for non-citizens and non-residents.

Six high-risk countries – which, to date have enjoyed visa-free entry into South Africa – will now be required to apply for visas. They are Italy, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Batswana and residents returning from high-risk countries will be subjected to 14-day mandatory quarantine as per protocol. Issuance of Visa at Ports of entry and at all Embassies for any person from high-risk areas is suspended with immediate effect.

We understand that these are challenging times and we are here to support you in any way possible. We are proactively contacting our customers to assist with changes to their immediate travel. Should you have any questions, please contact your dedicated Travel Expert.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have announced restrictions on visas, as part of measures to contain the new coronavirus outbreak. The UAE will suspend visa issuance starting March 17

Government is expected to announce a number of drastic measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in South Africa – including the possible introduction of a travel ban.

Re-booking and Re-routing will be made without any charge for different booking classes only if the new destination is in the same IATA region and in the same cabin providing that the tickets are reissued