International travel update: List of ‘high-risk countries’ rises to 60 [map]

There’s been a lot of talk about ‘chaos’ from political leaders this week. But, while eyes were fixed on our friends Stateside, the Cabinet of South Africa got to work on its own maddening presentation. Despite announcing an international travel list of ‘high-risk countries’ which wouldn’t be able to send tourists to our shores, confusion soon reigned.

International travel briefing marred by muddled messages

First, 17 countries were put on the travel list. Then it rose to 57. Now, after some chopping and changing, that list has now risen to 60. Home Affairs sheepishly backtracked on their initial lists late on Wednesday evening.

In our infinite quest to make sense of what the government are trying to explain, we thought that one thing nobody can argue with is good, clean, visual data. We’ve put together a world map of countries that are in South Africa’s ‘high-risk’ category, banning their residents from entering Mzansi at this present time.

Here is the full list of countries classed as high-risk:

The international travel map is a fascinating read: Almost the entirety of South America has been told we are off-limits, whereas more than half of Europe is also forbidden from taking a jaunt down to South Africa. A clutch of tiny island nations – represented by red dots on the map – also find themselves on the banned travel list:

1. Albania
2. Argentina
3. Armenia
4. Austria
5. Bahrain
6. Belgium
7. Bolivia
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina
9. Brazil
10. Chile
11. Columbia
12. Costa Rica
13. Croatia
14. Czech Republic
15. Denmark
16. Ecuador
17. France
18. Georgia
19. Greece
20. Guatemala
21. Guyana
22. Honduras
23. Hungary
24. Iceland
25. India
26. Iran
27. Iraq
28. Ireland
29. Israel
30. Jamaica
31. Jordan
32. Kuwait
33. Lebanon
34. Luxembourg
35. Maldives
36. Malta
37. Mexico
38. Moldova
39. Montenegro
40. Nepal
41. Netherlands
42. North Macedonia
43. Oman
44. Palestine
45. Panama
46. Paraguay
47. Peru
48. Portugal
49. Puerto Rico
50. Qatar
51. Romania
52. Russia
53. Slovakia
54. Suriname
55. Switzerland
56. Ukraine
57. United Emirates
58. United Kingdom
59. USA
60. Venezuela

International travel: The map of countries whose citizens cannot visit SA

Costa Rica has also been added to the list (not shown on map) – Photo: SmartMaps / TheSouthAfrican