South African Airports Prep for International Flights

As South Africa will open its borders on October 1 following the public address given by President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighting the nations significant drop in daily new coronavirus infections, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula visits Cape Town International Airport to check on preparations.

The minister shared a few words in a public address, "If people come to our country applying for a visa, part of the things we are looking at that you must have is a certification that about 72 hours you tested and you were Covid negative."

Airports Company South Africa CEO, Mpumi Mpofu, shared her insight, "We can’t be quibbling about the loss of revenue over a few months, because the process is going to be long and hard to get passenger confidence back. To get airlines, you have seen newspaper coverage indicating airlines that have been shut down, that have been liquidated."

Johannesburg's OR Tambo, and King Shaka are the only two other airports that will be open to let locals travel abroad and receive foreign visitors from countries deemed non-high-risk.

As of today, South Africa has conducted 4,083,757 coronavirus tests reporting 665,188 confirmed cases with 594,229 and 16,206 deaths.