Press Release on behalf of SATSA and TBCSA
Tuesday, 14 December 2021
TOURISM SECTOR WELCOMES OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF SOUTH AFRICA’S REMOVAL FROM UK RED LIST
- OMICRON VARIANT CLASSIFIED LOW-RISK IN MAJOR NEW SOUTH AFRICAN ANALYSIS
- OMICRON ON-TRACK TO BECOME DOMINANT VARIANT IN UK THIS WEEK
Key findings from South Africa study:
- South Africa’s leading private healthcare provider, Discovery Health, unveils the largest real-world assessment of the Omicron variant to date, with over 211,000 positive COVID-19 test results, 41% from adult members who had received two-doses of the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine. Approximately 78,000 of these positive COVID-19 test results were attributed to Omicron infections, over the period 15 November to 7 December 2021.
- Evidence strongly suggests Omicron results in a typically mild illness, irrespective of age or level of prior immunity.
- Rates of South African hospitalisations due to Covid remain low, despite very high Omicron infection levels.
- Numbers of patients in South Africa requiring either oxygen or ventilation due to Covid remains low.
- Two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination provides 70% protection against severe complications of COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation, and 33% protection against COVID-19 infection, during the current Omicron wave.
- Risk of hospital admission among adults diagnosed with COVID-19 is 29% lower for Omicron variant infection compared to D614G infection in South Africa’s first wave in mid-2020, after adjusting for vaccination status
Implications:
- The red list travel restrictions in the UK and across the EU are now redundant due to the low risk presented by Omicron and the high rates of community transmission across the region
- Hospitalisations are likely to remain low in the current wave, irrespective of antibody levels
- Impact likely to be even more modest in countries with high vaccination rates
Encouragingly, the result of the Discovery Health study shows that vaccinated individuals who received two-doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have 70% protection against hospital admission. Whilst protection against hospital admission reduced from the highs of 93% in South Africa’s Delta-driven variant, 70% is still regarded as very good protection.
President of the SAMRC, Professor Glenda Gray said, “We are extremely encouraged by the results of Discovery Health’s analysis. It is extremely important to be able to demonstrate to the public that in a real-world setting – in the presence of a highly transmissible new COVID-19 variant – the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides good protection against severe disease and hospitalisation.”
David Frost, CEO SATSA, representative body for in-bound tourism businesses in South Africa said:
‘This is welcome news but red-listing Southern Africa for just three weeks caused incalculable damage to jobs and livelihoods in the region, with little discernible benefit to health outcomes in the UK.
‘The UK government must now consign this blunt instrument to history and recognise the devastating impact red lists have to confidence amongst the travelling public.’
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, Chief Executive Officer – TBCSA , said:
“You are as likely to catch Omicron in Coventry as you are in Cape Town, and the scientific evidence is clear, that for most people this variant results in a mild disease which poses no threat to public health.
“Millions of people across Southern Africa are dependent on tourism for an income, and thousands more families are waiting anxiously to know if their loved ones will be home for the holidays. The UK needs to act immediately to begin rebuilding trust with the Global South where this travel policy has caused anger and resentment.”
Notes to Editors:
Tourism – economic impact in Southern Africa
The UK is the largest overseas market for tourism into South Africa. In a typical year approximately 450,000 British passport holders travel into South Africa, contributing to national income from tourism of R265 billion ($18bn). One job in tourism supports up to ten people in rural areas. Tourism supports 1.5 million jobs in South Africa, generating vital income for training and education. This disproportionately benefits the life chances of young women given that approximately 70% of tourism workers are themselves women.
Travel and tourism is also critical to the funding of conservation in Africa. Over the past 30 years government financing for parks and biodiversity protection has declined in favour of a model sustained by eco-tourism. Without this income, rural communities are hit hard. Wildlife is looked at as food rather than an asset to be protected. Tourism infrastructure is destroyed, fences come down and the knowledge and skills in the sector move abroad or into different industries. This negative cycle threatens not only habitats but the planet. Africa’s grasslands and rainforests are only now being appreciated for their role in carbon capture, something that is put at risk if landowners are forced to monetise them through more extractive industries like mining, logging or large-scale agriculture.
Issued by:
Natalia Rosa
Big Ambitions
Tel: 083 449 4334
Email: natalia@bigambitions.co.za
