The Ministry of Health has imposed a seven-day quarantine for passengers arriving from nine Southern African countries in the wake of the emergence of Covid-19 Omicron variant..
The decision was announced Monday, November 29, three after Rwanda had reinstated a 24-hour quarantine for all arrivals.
The country has also suspended direct flights to the affected Southern African countries.
A statement released by the Ministry of Health indicates that passengers arriving from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe will undergo a one-week quarantine.
“In order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation, passengers travelling from the following countries or those with a recent travel history in those countries will have to quarantine upon arriving in Rwanda for seven days at their own cost,” reads part of the statement, which listed the nine countries.
The statement added that the list will “continuously be updated upon assessment of global health conditions in consultation with the relevant international institutions”.
All other arriving passengers, according to the statement, will be mandated to present a negative Covid-19 PCR test, take a new one on arrival and be quarantined for one day upon arrival (all at their own expense), and conduct an additional PCR test on the 7th day after their arrival in Rwanda, that will be covered by the government.
Omicron, the latest variant of the coronavirus pandemic, was first reported in the Southern African region on November 25.
The highly contagious variant has since been confirmed in several other countries around the world, including Hong Kong, Israel, Belgium, Australia, Italy, UK, Germany, Austria and Denmark.