France has taken South Africa off its COVID-19 red list, abolishing mandatory quarantine requirements for vaccinated travellers from the country.
In the new decree published on Thursday, Dec. 6, the European country said it would allow unrestricted travel for vaccinated persons from South Africa provided they show their vaccination certificate and a negative PCR or antigen test was taken 48 hours before travel.
Travellers who are not yet fully vaccinated (complete regimen) will however still be required to quarantine for 10 days.
The development comes 10 days after the United States also lifted travel restrictions imposed against South Africa and seven other Southern African countries over the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
South Africa was the first country to report the Omicron variant to the World Health Organization on Nov. 24.
The report was met with multiple travel restrictions against Southern African countries.
Various leaders across Africa and beyond condemned the travel bans, some labelling them as “travel apartheid.”