Senegal reopens air borders to all passengers
The Senegalese government lifted restrictions on travellers to Senegal on Thursday evening, marking the reopening of the country's air borders to all passengers with a negative Covid-19 PCR test within five days, a senior official announced on Friday.
The announcement was made by the Senegalese Minister of Tourism and Air Transport Alioune Sarr who signed a circular.
Airlines, whose operating programmes have been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Senegal or which have a specific authorisation, are authorised to embark and disembark their passengers who possess a negative Covid-19 PCR test within five days, it said.
Due to the Covid-9 pandemic, Senegal closed air borders to passengers from a number of countries.
After
a sharp increase in new infections and deaths between July and August,
Senegal experienced a drastic drop in Covid-19 cases since
mid-September.
Since the first case of Covid-19 recorded in March 2020, Senegal has recorded 73 825 positive cases, including 71 908 recoveries and 1 864 deaths, according to the statement. The number of people receiving at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines reached 1,266,665.
Earlier this year, Agence de Presse Africaine reported that the country’s hotel and tourism industry is at the end of its tether.
“We are in a state of total paralysis with turnover divided by 10 for most of us. Not to mention those who have purely and simply closed their businesses because of the restrictions that are slowing down tourist activity,” said Mamadou Racine Sy, the president of the Federation of Hotel and Tourism Employers’ Organizations (FOPAHT) at the time.
