COVID-19 Country Response

COVID-19 epidemic evolution

To find out about the latest status of the COVID19 pandemic evolution and the most up-to-date statistics on the COVID19 disease in the South Africa, please visit the website of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the COVID-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal with the official data. For the international outlook you can consult the latest situation reports published by the World Health Organisation as well as the global daily statistics on the coronavirus pandemic evolution including data on confirmed cases and deaths by country.

Sanitary measures

To find out about the latest public health situation in South Africa and the current sanitary measures in vigour, please consult the Department of Health’s Covid-19 Tool Kit .

Travel restrictions

The COVID-19 situation, including the spread of new variants, evolves rapidly and differs from country to country. All travelers need to pay close attention to the conditions at their destination before traveling. Regularly updated information for all countries with regards to Covid-19 related travel restrictions in place including entry regulations, flight bans, test requirements and quarantine is available on TravelDoc Infopage.
It is also highly recommended to consult COVID-19 Travel Regulations Map provided and updated on the daily basis by IATA.
The US government website of Centers of Disease Control and Prevention provides COVID-19 Travel Recommendations by Destination.
The UK Foreign travel advice also provides travelling abroad advice for all countries, including the latest information on coronavirus, safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings.

Import & export restrictions

For the up-to-date information on all the measures applicable to movement of goods during the period of sanitary emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak (including eventual restrictions on imports and exports, if applicable), please consult the website of the South African Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued guidance concerning value added tax (VAT) rules in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For the updated overview of the introduced trade import and export restrictions and other trade measures (ex. tariffs reductions) due to COVID-19 pandemic, please consult the section dedicated to South Africa on the International Trade Centre's COVID-19 Temporary Trade Measures webpage.

Economic recovery plan

For information on the economic recovery scheme put in place by the South African government to address the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the South African economy, please read Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s Media briefing on economy and Coronavirus COVID-19), as well as the "Economic Relief" section on the national official portal SAcoronavirus.co.za. Additional information can be sourced on the page dedicated to South Africa on KPMG's website.
For a general overview of the key economic policy responses to the COVID-19 outbreak (fiscal, monetary and macroeconomic) taken by the South African government to limit the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, please consult the section dedicated to South Africa in the IMF’s Policy Tracker platform. 

Support plan for businesses

For information on the local business support scheme established by the South African government to help small and medium-sized companies to deal with the economic impacts of the COVID19 epidemic on their activity, please consult the South African government’s “Support to business” page. For an overview of international SME support policy responses to the COVID-19 outbreak refer to the OECD's SME Covid-19 Policy Responses document. You can also consult the World Bank's Map of SME-Support Measures in Response to COVID-19.

Support plan for exporters

For the up-to-date information on possible support plans for exporters in South Africa, if applicable, please consult the website of the South African Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition.