Citizenship Options
International travellers onboard late-night flights into South Africa will be permitted to move from the airport to their places of accommodation during the 21:00 to 06:00 curfew, government says. Visitors have, however, been urged to carry proof of their travels to avoid fine or imprisonment if stopped by police.
On Tuesday, South Africa entered an adjusted form of Level 3 lockdown. New regulations banning the sale of alcohol and social gatherings coincide with an extended curfew intended to limit movement after dark. This extension has already disrupted local flights, with airlines scrambling to adjust their schedules and revise bookings.
Between 21:00 and 06:00, only those with valid work permits will be allowed to travel to and from their homes. This reprieve is extended to persons seeking urgent medical attention.
But during a press briefing on Tuesday, minister of justice and correctional services Ronald Lamola, and the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, agreed that international travellers get a pass on that rule.
“International travellers who arrive during the period of the curfew will still be allowed to reach their destination,” said Lamola.
Although South African travellers have been barred from entering several nations following the discovery of a more infectious Covid-19 variant, known as 501.V2, the country’s airspace remains largely unaffected by the recent move to adjusted Level 3 lockdown. International flights into OR Tambo, King Shaka, and Cape Town International airports remain operational, albeit in a fashion subdued compared to the usual December rush.
“If they [international travellers] can show that they were travelling, with the stamp on their ticket or passport… the police will leave them alone,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
The NCCC did not, however clarify whether this offer would be extended to persons departing from South Africa or to local airlines.
Violating the curfew, without a valid reason, can lead to arrest and prosecution. Offenders may be subjected to a prison term, not exceeding six months, a fine, or both.
Once you touch down in Australia, the Government does allow exemptions from hotel quarantine in some instances
The case of a 53-year-old Australian dual citizen and her son who were incorrectly allowed to travel to Victoria and avoid hotel quarantine after flying into Sydney has put the spotlight back on quarantine exemptio
While police wrongly believed these two travellers had a valid exemption to avoid quarantine, the Australian Government does allow travellers exemption from hotel quarantine in some instances.
Here is a rundown on who can enter Australia by air or sea and be exempt from hotel quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
International transit
People arriving in Australia can leave on another international flight out of the country and can avoid hotel quarantine as long as they stay at the airport where they entered Australia and the next flight leaves within eight hours.
If the wait time for your next flight is from eight to 72 hours, travellers are required to go into mandatory quarantine.
You must stay in the quarantine facility until the time of your departing flight.
If you intend to spend more than 72 hours in Australia waiting for a connecting flight, the Department of Home Affairs says you are not considered to be transiting Australia and will need to request an exemption from travel restrictions.
Government officials and their dependents
Government officials and their dependents may quarantine at their home or private accommodation as long as they are returning to Australia from official government travel.
Once in Australia, these officials cannot travel on a domestic connecting flight within 14 days of arrival.
These officials must be travelling on an official or diplomat passport to qualify for this exemption.
However, Queensland does require consular employees to quarantine for 14 days in hotel quarantine or other government-organised quarantine.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk banned diplomatic and consular staff returning to the state from overseas in August after a Government contractor entered Queensland on an consular exemption tested positive for coronavirus.
Foreign diplomats
Similarly, foreign diplomats can quarantine for 14 days at their mission or usual place of residence.
This is in line with Australia's legal obligations under the Vienna Convention to ensure foreign diplomats freedom of movement and travel and protection from detention.
Compassionate or medical exemption
Applications for exemptions on compassionate or medical grounds are taken on a case-by-case basis by states and territories.
The Department of Health says travellers seeking a hotel quarantine exemption need to apply with the relevant state or territory "well before" they travel to Australia.
If you need to travel through multiple states or territories within the quarantine period an exemption must be granted from each of these states or territories.
Aviation crew
Australian air crew arriving in Australia after working on an international flight are exempt from hotel quarantine.
They are required to self-isolate at their home or hotel until their next international flight departs, or for 14 days — whichever is shorter.
These exemptions also apply to medevac and air ambulance crew.
But these exemptions do not apply to Australian air crew arriving internationally as passengers.
Similarly, foreign air crew are not required to enter hotel quarantine but must self-isolate at their hotel until their next flight and use privately organised transport to travel to and from their hotel.
Foreign air crew may fly domestically to their next point of departure from Australia if necessary.
Flight crew of domestic flights are subject to the same quarantine restrictions as the general public.
Maritime crew
Maritime crew are exempt from hotel quarantine, but the conditions of their exemption is a little trickier.
Maritime crew are required to self-isolate for 14-days after leaving their last international port of call. This means that maritime crew can spend their entire self isolation period at sea prior to arriving in Australia as long as no illnesses have been reported on board during that time.
Therefore, maritime crew who have spent longer than 14 days at sea on a commercial vessel, with no illness reported on board, do not need to self-isolate on arrival in Australia.
If maritime crew arrive in Australia within 14 days, they are required to self-isolate at their home for the remainder of the period.
Support staff on maritime vessels, such as livestock handlers and veterinarians, are also considered maritime crew and are subject to the same exemptions.
But these exemptions do not apply to cruise ships.
Also, international maritime crew flying into Australia to join a vessel are not required to undertake hotel quarantine but they must proceed directly to the vessel or self-isolate in their accommodation.
They may travel domestically to reach their vessel, but must self-isolate in their own accommodation during any layover time.
Workers on offshore gas and oil operations are also exempt from hotel quarantine, under the same exemptions as apply to maritime crew.
Travellers from a Safe Travel Zone
The Department of Health website says that travellers arriving in Australia from a Safe Travel Zone country do not need to quarantine as long as they have not been in any other country in the previous 14 days.
Currently this exemption applies to travellers from New Zealand, as New Zealand is the sole country to be designated by Australia as a Safe Travel Zone country so far.
Once you touch down in Australia from New Zealand, you may still be required to undergo health screening.
But in the Safe Travel Zone you will not come into contact with passengers from other countries.
However, according to the Department of Home Affairs, quarantine-free travel from New Zealand is currently only available to NSW, the ACT, NT and Victoria.
If you arrive into any other state you will still be subject to mandatory quarantine.
Once in Australia, travellers are subject to the same social distancing and health guidelines that Australian residents are.
Cyber crime costs the global economy over $1 trillion, or just more than 1% of global GDP, a figure which is up more than 50% from a 2018 study that put global losses at close to $600 billion.
This was revealed by a new report by McAfee dubbed “The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime,” which examines the financial and unseen impacts that cyber crime has around the world. The report, conducted in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), was compiled from interviews of 1 500 IT and line of business decision makers.
The report explored the damage reported beyond financial losses, finding 92% of companies felt effects beyond monetary losses.
A wider attack surface
Steve Grobman, SVP and CTO at McAfee, says the severity and frequency of cyber attacks on organisations increases as adversaries hone their techniques, new technologies widen the attack surface, and work expands into home and remote environments.
“While industry and government are aware of the financial and national security implications of cyber attacks, unplanned downtime, the cost of investigating breaches and disruption to productivity represent less appreciated high impact costs,” he says.
In SA, organisations had to scramble to establish work-from-home infrastructure for their staff to ensure business continuity through the COVID-19 lockdown, but compared to more developed markets, few company’s security infrastructure was up to the job for this shift,” adds Carlo Bolzonello, country manager for McAfee SA.
“While many managed the shift, they were unwittingly vulnerable to security breaches, whether they were accidental data leaks, private data being maliciously shared by disgruntled employees, or targeted hacks from global crime syndicates. Organisations equipped with a cloud-based advanced threat management solution that offers complete coverage across the attack lifecycle, would have had the ability to prioritise and protect what matters, easily and efficiently,” he adds.
Hidden costs
The report also scrutinised the hidden costs and the lasting impact and damage cyber crime can have on a business, including system downtime, which is a common hazard for around two thirds of respondents’ organisations.
The average cost to organisations from their longest amount of downtime in 2019 was $762 231, and a third of respondents stated IT security incident resulting in system downtime cost them between $100 000 and $500 000.
Another hidden cost emerged as reduced efficiency, as system downtime saw organisations losing, on average, nine working hours a week leading to reduced efficiency. The average interruption to operations was 18 hours.
Then there's incident response cost. The report highlighted that it took an average of 19 hours for most businesses to move from the discovery of an incident to remediation.
Finally, the report looked at brand and reputation damage and found that the cost of rehabilitating the external image of the brand, working with outside consultancies to mitigate brand damage, or hiring new employees to prevent future incidents is another cost, with 26% saying they had suffered brand damage from the downtime experienced due to an incident.
Ill prepared
Unfortunately, the report also uncovered a lack of organisation-wide understanding of cyber risk, which makes businesses vulnerable to sophisticated social engineering tactics and, once a user is hacked, not recognising the problem in time to stop the spread.
According to the report, 56% of the participants admitted to not having a plan to either prevent or respond to a cyber incident. Out of the 951 organisations that actually had a response plan, only 32% believed the plan was effective.
JOHANNESBURG - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Tuesday said that international travel has not changed under the country’s level 3 lockdown.
Briefing the media, the minister said the 18 land borders, which were partially operational, would be fully operational.
She said the 34 land borders, which were closed will remain closed, except for the Kosibay Border Post between South Africa and Mozambique that would reopen on 1 January 2021.
The minister also said initiation schools will have to be closed under the adjusted level 3 lockdown.
She said initiation schools that had already opened prior to the implantation of the country’s level 3 lockdown regulations, would be allowed to continue to operate in order to complete their processes.
However, Dlamini-Zuma said no new initiates may be taken, and celebrations after the initiation are prohibited.
Earlier, Dlamini-Zuma said people could go to restaurants, museums, gyms, casinos, galleries, cinemas, and theatres.
However, the venues must allow a maximum of 50 people only sitting 1.5 metres apart and alcohol is prohibited from being sold.
If the venue cannot accommodate the 1.5 metre distancing, then the number of people allowed inside must be less than 50.
Following Monday night's address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on developments in relation to the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Cabinet ministers are giving more details on the new adjusted regulations.
Dlamini-Zuma is joined by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize and Police Minister Bheki Cele on Tuesday morning.