HARARE – RwandAir suspended flights to Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia with effect from Monday citing a highly-infections Covid-19 variant first detected in South Africa, and now believed to be in several Southern African countries.
In a statement, the airline said: “In the view of the global concerns on Covid-19 variants prevalent throughout Southern Africa, RwandAir announces the suspension of its flights to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lusaka and Harare, effective February 8.
“Scheduled flights will resume as soon as there is more clarity on the situation. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
The airline said affected customers can rebook and fly at a later date at no additional cost or request refund.
The more contagious 501Y.V2 variant was first identified in South Africa late last year. The variant is believed to have spread to nine other African countries, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) epidemiological report last week.
South Africa on Sunday announced that it was putting on hold the rollout of the recently procured AtsraZeneca vaccine after a new study showed it was not effective against the new variant.
Zimbabwe is expecting to take delivery of 200,000 free doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, but the government is yet provide an update on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Zambia was recently allocated 8.7 million doses of the 270 million Covid-19 vaccines secured by the African Union (AU). The Zambian government, however, said it would first closely monitor the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccines in other countries before commencing administration.
