The Archbishop of Canterbury has weighed in on the travels bans imposed on several southern African countries, calling them “morally wrong”.
In a series of tweets, Justin Welby called the bans “self defeating”, saying, “We cannot have ‘travel apartheid’” - a phrase used by Nigeria’s high commissioner on Tuesday.
In the past two weeks, the UK government has added 11 countries to the formerly emptied red list, including South Africa, Botswana and most recently Nigeria, meaning expensive hotel quarantine stays for all arrivals from those countries.
Meanwhile countries and regions including the US and EU also banned arrivals from a selection of neighbouring African countries.
Leaders and officials in red-listed countries expressed outrage at the “selective” listing of southern African countries, when omicron is now present in dozens of countries around the world.
In other news, holiday giant Tui today announced losses of £2.01bn (£1.72bn) in the year to September 2021, working out to nearly £5m per day.
However CEO Fritz Joussen remains optimistic, telling The Independent: “We expect summer 2022 to return to booking levels similar to pre-corona 2019.”
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