Airlines cut South Africa’s routes as virus escalates

Several international airlines have streamlined flights to South Africa this week following travel restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus fueling a rapid upsurge in infection.

A growing list of countries has been limiting travel to and from South Africa since a more transmissible variant of the virus, dubbed 501Y.V2, was announced in December.

The new border closures have forced major airlines to suspend or reduce flights to and from Africa’s most industrialized economy.

Emirates this week announced a 13-day hiatus on all South African routes for “operational reasons”.

KLM said it had to change its schedules after the Dutch government restricted travel from South Africa to Amsterdam, forcing the company to cancel several flights this week.

Lufthansa also told AFP it was “adjusting its flight schedule” to South Africa to “reduce demand”.

The reduction comes amid a worrying upsurge in coronavirus infections in South Africa – largely attributed to 501Y.V2 – which forced authorities to impose a new set of restrictions in December.

Concerns over the spiral of infections prompted South Africa’s education ministry on Friday to delay the start of the school year by two weeks until February 15.

“This is done to relieve the health system which is already struggling to cope with current demands,” Deputy Minister of Basic Education Reginah Mhaule said in a statement.

South Africa has recorded nearly 1.3 million cases and more than 35,500 deaths since March – the highest on the continent.

More than 240,000 infections and 6,000 deaths were reported in January alone.

The surge in cases, which started in southern South Africa, quickly hit the most populous province of Gauteng, home to the financial center of Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.

Prime Minister David Makhura this week warned that coronavirus-related deaths have skyrocketed as a result.

“When we do a comparison by week, we see that the number of people succumbing to Covid-19 is increasing quite significantly,” Makhura said in an update on the province’s health response.

Gauteng, one of the epicenters of the outbreak in South Africa during its first wave of infection, accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s cases and 18% of deaths.

sch / pma