No quarantine as Seychelles to open up to visitors regardless of vaccination status, 25 March

The Seychelles has announced that it will be welcoming visitors from across the globe, irrespective of their vaccination status, as from 25 March, 021. Visitors from South Africa will still not be permitted to enter the Indian Ocean islands, however, pending further review. The announcement was made by the minister for foreign affairs and tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde on 4 March at the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) conference room at Botanical House. The minister said the decision to relax the entry procedures had been made possible due to the success of the country’s vaccination campaign. Visitors will now only be required to present a negative PCR test taken 72 hours prior to departure. There will be no quarantine requirement nor restriction on movement upon entry into Seychelles. No minimum stay upon arrival is applicable. Visitors will still be required to adhere to public health measures such as wearing face masks, observing social distancing and other standard sanitisation measures. “The vaccination campaign has been quite successful… opening our borders further is the next step to allow for our economic recovery,” Radegonde added. The Seychelles was the first African country to launch a comprehensive Covid-19 immunisation campaign, in January 2021. An Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Global Economic Outlook report, 17 February, using Ourworldindata.org figures, showed The Seychelles in second position to Israel in terms of vaccinating its population.