Coronavirus: the state of border closures on the African continent

Text by: Sébastien Duhamel

Like the rest of the world and in order to prevent the Covid-19 from spreading a little more, the African continent is turning in on itself. Almost all countries have already adopted measures to restrict international travel.

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Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, a large majority of the continent's states have already decided to completely close their borders. From South Africa, via the DRC, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali or even Algeria, a total of thirty-two countries have taken this type of measure, according to a count established within the African Union by the African Center for Disease Prevention and Control, CDC.

Goods and humanitarian aid still in circulation

The resulting map speaks for itself: West and North Africa are the most affected by this drastic measure. This primarily targets travelers, but freight and emergency equipment naturally continue to circulate. Initiatives to facilitate the transport of humanitarian aid are also being put in place.

During a videoconference this Thursday in Johannesburg, the regional director of the World Food Program announced the opening of a humanitarian corridor. Freighters will now be able to dock in South Africa, in Durban, to transport aid to Zimbabwe. A country where nearly four million people remain food insecure, according to the UN agency.

Lighter travel restrictions

Less stringent measures have also been adopted elsewhere on the continent. The CDC map shows that the States having made this choice are mainly those of the East of the continent, in the Horn of Africa in particular. In total, nine countries have chosen to interrupt only air traffic, like Madagascar, the Central African Republic or Egypt, which had been the first African country hit by Covid-19, in February last .

Some countries have so far preferred to keep their borders open, but still impose restrictions on the movement of people. Still according to the CDC count, there are eight in this case. Five of them - like Benin, Ethiopia or South Sudan - impose restrictions on the arrival and departure of certain countries deemed to be at risk. The other three, including Mozambique, are content to restrict arrivals to their territory.

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