A British travel operator which lost half its staff due to crippling Government travel restrictions is hopeful South Africa will finally be taken off the red list at today’s traffic light update.
Ginny Russell, owner of Cedarberg Africa, in Lewes, East Sussex, checks the GISAID website, which tracks Covid variants across the world, every day for signs South Africa’s data will improve enough to be removed from the red list.
The Government banned entry from South Africa to the UK on 24 December last year and since February anyone flying in from the country has had to pay for hotel quarantine. It has been on the red list since the traffic light system was introduced in May.
Describing how the restrictions have hit her business, Ms Russell told i: “Unfortunately we did have to make some harsh decisions and our team is half the size it was before.
“It’s been very painful, these are people who worked with us for many, many years and it’s a great loss of knowledge and…