Of the fifty-four (54) countries that make up the African continent, shockingly only two – Egypt and South Africa – were named on a list of airports marked safe for post-COVID-19 flights by the European Union (EU).
Interestingly, both South Africa and Egypt have the highest cases of COVID19 infection in Africa, while several countries with lower figures or none – with the virus already wiped from their borders – such as Seychelles were blatantly ignored.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency developed a list of world airports that have taken the necessary measures, including enhanced aircraft disinfection for mitigating risks of transmission of the COVID-19 infection.
The list has been developed under the sole purpose of ensuring an extra layer of protection for passengers and aircrew and is not intended to suggest travel restrictions or other public health measures (such as quarantine) at State level.
The list, which has been developed in coordination with the EASA Member States, is mainly based on the information from WHO, ECDC and other reputable public health institutes, and will be updated continuously in consultation with these organizations.
Data from these organizations have been collected and arranged in a consistent manner. Overall, the list has been established based on the following factors:
1, Number of active cases
2, Number of recovered cases
3, The trend of active cases per day & trend of new cases per day
4, Number of tests per inhabitants
5, Deaths per inhabitants & trend of deaths per day
6, Cases in urban vs rural areas;
7, Number & size of the airports serving a specific area/population
8, Reproduction index – higher than one should be considered in correlation with other factors and should be seen as an indication of exponential
On the list tagged “EU Member States, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, UK and Territories,” only Belgium has all its airports marked safe, with the rest having selected airports marked safe.
On the other list of countries outside the above, only Egypt and South Africa were listed from the continent, with all airports in the North African country marked safe. For South Africa however, only the airports in the Western Cape region were marked safe.
EU Member States, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, UK and Territories
State Regions/Airports
Belgium All airports
France All airports in the following regions:
· Ile-de-France
Italy All airports in the following regions:
· Emilia Romagna
· Lombardy
· Piemonte
The Netherlands The following airports:
· Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
· Eindhoven Airport
· Maastricht Aachen Airport
· Rotterdam The Hague Airport
Poland Katowice Airport (EPKT)
Portugal The following airports:
· Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport
· Lisbon Portela Airport
Spain All airports in the following regions:
· Castile and Leon
· Castilla-La Mancha
· Catalonia
· Madrid
Sweden All airports in Stockholm Region
United Kingdom The following airports:
· Birmingham
· Doncaster Sheffield
· East Midlands
· Gatwick
· Glasgow
· Heathrow
· Leeds Bradford
· Liverpool John Lennon
· London City
· Luton
· Manchester Airport
· Newcastle International
· Stansted
Third Countries
State Regions/Airports
Afghanistan All airports
Argentina All airports in Buenos Aires Province
Bahrain All airports
Bangladesh All airports
Belarus All airports
Bolivia All airports
Brazil All airports in the following regions:
· Amazonas
· Bahia
· Ceará
· Espírito Santo
· Maranhão
· Paraíba
· Pernambuco
· Piauí
· Rio De Janeiro
· Santa Catarina
· Sao Paulo
Canada All airports in the following regions:
· Ontario
· Quebec
Chile All airports
Colombia All airports in Bogota region
Dominican Republic All airports
Ecuador All airports
Egypt All airports
India All airports in the following provinces:
· Gujarat
· Madhya Pradesh
· Maharashtra
· Rajasthan
· Tamil Nadu
· Uttar Pradesh
Indonesia All airports
Iran All airports
Kuwait All airports
Mexico All airports in the Mexico City region
Pakistan All airports
Peru All airports
Qatar All airports
Russia All airports in the following regions:
· Krasnoyarsk Krai
· Moscow
· Murmansk
· Nizhny Novgorod
· Rostov Oblast
· Sankt Petersburg
· Sverdlovsk Oblast
· Yaroslavl Oblast
Saudi Arabia All airports
Singapore All airports
South Africa All airports in Western Cape region
Turkey All airports
Ukraine All airports in the following regions:
· Chernivtsi
· Kyiv
United Arab Emirates All airports
USA All airports in the following States:
· Alabama
· Arizona
· California
· Colorado
· Connecticut
· Florida
· Georgia
· Illinois
· Indiana
· Louisiana
· Maryland
· Massachusetts
· Michigan
· Nebraska
· New Jersey
· New York
· North Carolina
· Ohio
· Pennsylvania
· Rhode Island
· Texas
· Virginia
· Washington
Source: schengenvisainfo.com
