Egypt resumes weekly flights to South Africa after 13-day hiatus due to Omicron variant

CAIRO- 9 December 2021: Egypt’s state-owned airline, EgyptAir, announced the resumption of its weekly flights between Egypt and South Africa, after a 13-day hiatus due to the new coronavirus variant, Omicron.

 

“EgyptAir announced the resumption of operating one flight per week between Cairo and Johannesburg on Thursdays, starting from December 16,” the company announced, adding the departure time of the flight from Cairo is at 23:05 pm.

 

All preventive measures announced by the Egyptian Ministry of Health will be applied to passengers coming from South Africa to Egypt, the company added.

 

Several countries, including Egypt, around the world, have suspended their flights to and from South Africa, due to the Omicron mutant that was announced in South Africa on November 27.  EgyptAir announced suspending flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, after the World Health Organization classed the new coronavirus variant that emerged in southern Africa as “of concern”.

 

Travelers to Egypt via indirect flights from seven south African countries [South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, and Eswatini] will have to take rapid coronavirus test and those who test positive will have to turn back to their countries, sources at EgyptAir said.

 

In case arrivals from these countries tested negative for the rapid test, they will have to self-isolate at home for seven days and then take a PCR test after the quarantine period.

 

Travelers will have to sign a self-quarantine agreement before they take the flight to Egypt, the sources said.

 

So far, four Arab countries [Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Kuwait] announced the first cases of Omicron variant since the detection of this new strain.