Mauritius closes borders and suspends all incoming flights for one week

Mauritius has suspended almost all incoming flights for a period of one week.

Effective from midnight on Saturday, March 6, zero passengers are allowed access or even to transit through the Republic of Mauritius or its outer island of Rodrigues. Your choice came after a gathering of the country’s National Covid-19 High Driven Committee and was circulated by the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority.

The Indian Sea nation has also extended its quarantine regulations to ensure that all passengers entering Mauritius until Monday, May 31 must complete a 14-day mandatory quarantine after arrival. Mauritius has so far applied a rigorous monitoring regime to keep the island safe: all arrivals to the island must undergo a 14-moment quarantine, coupled with a pre-departure PCR test, arrival ensure that you follow-up tests on days seven and 14 of their stay.

News of the border closure shows up as a surprise, while Mauritius features been pitching themselves due to a safe and sound haven from the pandemic. It launched its High-grade Visa initiative in November, which allows vacationers, retirees and professionals who can work remotely to remain on the island for a year.

Regarding to Mauritius Tourism Advertising Authority, the long-stay visa premiered “to meet up the growing demand via international visitors looking to relocate to the Covid-secure island for job, leisure or retirement”. The destination had likewise previously communicated strategies to allow tourists who have been vaccinated to enter the united states freely.

Mauritius includes a vaccination programme underway and is prioritising health care workers, the elderly and around 25,000 islanders who work found in the tourism industry. There's been relatively little disruption to lifestyle in Mauritius as a result of the pandemic, with hardly any known cases of community transmission.

The country's border closure comes days after its fellow Indian Ocean destination, the Seychelles, announced that it will completely reopen its borders to international visitors, irrespective of their vaccination status, on Thursday, March 25.

Sylvestre Radegonde, the Seychelles' minister for foreign affairs and tourism, announced in a good press briefing that you will have no quarantine requirements or perhaps movements restrictions for travellers to the Indian Sea archipelago.

The simply requirement is that all visitors will need to present a poor PCR test, taken 72 hours prior to arrival. They'll then need to stick to public health measures currently in place in the country, such as using faces masks and social distancing in public.

The only visitors exempt from these new rules are those from South Africa, who'll not be permitted to enter the Seychelles until further notice.