Researchers warn of a seven-fold rise in ransomware attacks compared with last year alone - and attackers are continually evolving their tactics.

Why ransomware has become the biggest cyber threat to your network in 2020

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There's been a huge increase in the number of ransomware attacks over the course of 2020, with a seven-fold rise in campaigns compared with just last year alone, according to newly released data from cybersecurity researchers.

Ransomware attacks have been on the rise and getting more dangerous in recent years, with cyber criminals aiming to encrypt as much of a corporate network as possible in order to extort a bitcoin ransom in return for restoring it. A single attack can result in cyber criminals making hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

It's something that cyber criminals have been capitalising on despite the changing working circumstances with more people working remotely during 2020, with Bitdefender's Mid-Year Threat Landscape Report 2020 claiming a 715% year-on-year increase in detected – and blocked – ransomware attacks.

Not only has the number of ransomware attacks increased, but ransomware has continued evolving, with some of the most popular forms of ransomware last year having disappeared while new forms of ransomware have emerged. In some cases, these are even more disruptive and damaging.

"Looking into the evolution of last year's ransomware families and how they've changed this year, most of them have actually gone down in numbers. This year's popular ransomware families are not last year's popular ransomware families," Liviu Arsene, global cybersecurity researcher at Bitdefender told ZDNet.

For example, one of the most prolific ransomware threats during 2019 was GandCrab – until its operators shut up shop during the middle of the year, claiming to have made a fortune from campaigns.

Since then, new families of ransomware have emerged, including Sodinokibi – also known as REvil – which while not a massively prolific campaign, is a highly targeted operation that has made large amounts of money from disruptive, often high-profile ransomware attacks.

In many cases, hackers are following through with threats to leak data they've stolen in the run-up to deploying the ransomware attack if the victim doesn't pay – something that might strike fear into future victims and encourage them to give into the extortion demands more quickly.

"If they do that just once, they set an example for everyone else who becomes infected, because those who don't pay end up with data leaked and a GDPR fine. Everybody else who gets infected afterwards is going to see the attackers are serious," Arsene explained.

While ransomware from specialist cyber-criminal gangs such as Sodinokibi and DoppelPaymer grab the headlines, ransomware-as-a-service has continued to be an issue for organisations around the world, with ransomware families like Zepto and Cryptolocker causing problems.

While these forms of ransomware might not be as advanced as the most high-profile versions, their availability 'as-a-service' allows even low-level attackers to deploy attacks in an effort to illicitly make money, often from smaller and medium-sized businesses that feel they have no other option but to pay.

Ransomware remains a major cyber threat to organisations and businesses of all kind, but there are relatively simple steps that can be taken to avoid falling victim to a ransomware attack.

Ensuring that security patches are applied as soon as possible helps prevent hackers from exploiting known vulnerabilities to gain a foothold inside the network in the first place, while organisations should also apply multi-factor authentication across the ecosystem because that can prevent hackers moving across the network by gaining additional controls.

Organisations should also regularly backup their systems, as well as testing those backups on a regular basis as past of a recovery plan, so if the worst happens and ransomware does infiltrate the network, there's a known method of restoring it without the need to pay cyber criminals.

From senior buy-in to layered security and onto cross-business education, here's how CIOs can create an information security strategy that helps to keep hackers out and data safe.

CIOs are under more pressure than ever before when it comes to cybersecurity concerns, especially now that many or even all of the staff in their organisation are working from home, perhaps using unfamiliar software and hardware as they try to do their jobs on lockdown. 

The array of devices and applications that they have to take responsibility for has been rapidly expanded by the coronavirus crisis, and criminals have been keen to exploit any organisations thrown off-balance by the rapidly changing circumstances, which means taking a fresh look at what IT security really means. Tech analyst HFS Research recently reported that 56% of enterprises expect to increase their security spending in response to COVID-19. 

"The threat landscape changes on a daily basis," says Simon Liste, chief information technology officer at the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). "We've had to shift our approach so that we recognise that information security is not about 'if' you get hit but 'when' you get hit. Understanding that shift in terms of technology, culture and leadership has been hard – and not just for the PPF, but for a lot of organisations."

Liste says he's fortunate to have a strong technical background and, from his previous roles as a technical engineer and analyst, believes he's developed a good understanding of cybersecurity concerns. Here's four areas he believes IT leaders should focus on to create an effective security strategy.

1. Get buy-in from the senior leadership team

Liste says it's crucial the board understands the importance of cybersecurity. "At board level it's on the agenda at all times, especially in the position we find ourselves in right now with COVID-19," he says.

Set up by the Pensions Act 2004, the PPF protects millions of UK people who belong to defined benefit pension schemes. If their employers go bust, and their pension schemes cannot afford to pay what they've promised, the PPF pays compensation for their lost pensions.

"We have a responsibility to our internal colleagues and our external members to make sure that the data we've got is secure," he says. "Because of the role we fulfil as an organisation, we need to protect the intellectual property that we have."

Since joining the PPF in February 2018, Liste has worked with the board to help develop their awareness of cybersecurity threats. The effort has paid off.  

"They really get the critical role of information security to our organisation," he says. "And they're continually evolving their understanding, so they know that security isn't just about dealing with external threats."

2. Focus on continually honing your processes

When he became CIO at the PPF, Liste brought the management of cybersecurity back in-house after it had previously been outsourced to an external provider. He was keen to take back control of IT management decisions and he's developed an information security and privacy department.

"We don't just do a standard annual check of our systems; instead, we're constantly evaluating our estates," he says. "Cybersecurity is about trying to keep on the front foot all the time, but it's also about understanding you can't find a silver bullet that sorts everything. That just doesn't happen, so you need an ethos of constantly checking and challenging."

As part of his internal management of cyber-defence systems, Liste has established an information security committee, which helps to coordinate IT security initiatives at the executive level and ensures the value of – and risk to – data is established and recognised.

The organisation adheres to industry best practices, including ISO 27001, which is the international information security standard. The PPF is also looking at the Cyber Essentials Plus information assurance scheme operated by the National Cyber Security Centre.

"What's important is the mechanism around applying the right processes," says Liste. "You need to think about a range of key questions: how can you identify, how can you monitor, how can you manage, how can you recover, and how can you be proactive?"

3. Layer your security partners – and test them, too

Liste says insourcing IT has allowed his team to disaggregate the support model and spread provision across a series of suppliers, which helps to reduce the level of potential risk.

"Don't put all your eggs into one basket," he says. "There's often a debate around cost-appropriate security solutions, but I don't think you can sacrifice costs when it comes to security. It's not a financial decision – it's more around identifying what's absolutely fundamentally critical in terms of the data you need to protect."

Liste says the PPF uses cloud-based, perimeter gateway services and also more traditional enterprise firewalls. He advises other CIOs to try and spread risk at the hardware level and use different providers for different areas of IT infrastructure, such as servers and desktop PCs. He says the PPF's main security partner is a "top-five global specialist".

"A good security partner has intelligence – they can interrogate what's happening on your network, and what traffic's going in and out, but they also know what's going on outside your corporate environment in a place like the dark web," he says.

Liste is impressed with the level of expertise he receives, but he advises other CIOs to take nothing for granted. He refers to his main partner as his "blue team", but he also employs a "red team" of ethical hackers to regularly test the approach his main security partner is taking.

"That's to see if they can break the services and the recommendations that have been made," he says. "We're just trying to layer the way we're protecting people and data, and the interaction between people and data as well."

4. Engage with the rest of the business

Liste has gone to great lengths to strengthen security awareness at the board level and to build security capability within the IT department. Yet he says it's crucial to recognise good security is a whole-organisation effort. When it comes to creating education programmes, he says CIOs should be prepared to lean on the expertise of other functional heads.

"A good collaboration with your learning and development team, your communications team and your training team is absolutely critical," he says. "You need to work with these experts to make sure you're constantly updating and engaging with people and educating them around the evolution of the cybersecurity risk."

Liste says structured internal education and awareness programmes are the best way to teach staff across the organisation about potential risks. But he also says that training development shouldn't stop at the enterprise firewall, particularly as most staff are currently working at home due to social distancing.

"We don't limit our approach to corporate education," says Liste. "We also talk about awareness at home, which is obviously crucial right now, and we talk about the risk of phishing and being aware of the text messages that tempt you to click on links. We say that the secure practices our people apply at work should be carrying on 24/7."

South Africa’s list of high-risk countries, where tourists remain banned from entering the country, has been criticised for being arbitrary and potentially damaging to the local tourism sector.

The list of 60 countries includes the likes of the United States and the United Kingdom, which are sources of some of the biggest tourism spend in the country – while all of Africa is free to travel across borders.

According to the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), rough estimates from Stats SA show that about 16% of total overnight visitors come from countries currently rated as high-risk.

The US and UK represent about 8% of all overnight tourists. While this is relatively low, visitors from these countries tend to spend more than tourists per visitor from Africa, the group said.

By contrast, around 73% of overnight tourists in 2019 were from fellow Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, the group noted.

South Africa’s so-called ‘red list’ applies only to leisure and tourism travel, with business travellers with scarce/critical skills, diplomats, repatriated persons, investors and people participating in professional sporting or cultural events from the high-risk countries allowed to enter the country.

However, it has been argued that the list is generally arbitrary given the fact that South Africa itself is also still largely on the high-risk country list for many countries – including those listed in the high-risk group – which would have deterred travel in any case.

South Africa’s red list

Of the 60 high-risk countries listed by South Africa, only 18 actually allow South Africans to visit them for leisure purposes.

For some counties, travel is possible, but not directly – such as Malta or Montenegro, which would require a citizen from a ‘red list’ country (such as South Africa) to spend 14 or 15 days in a ‘green list’ country before entering.

As with South Africa’s opening of borders, countries that do allow travel for leisure and tourism purposes do not do so unconditionally, and will require travellers to either submit recent negative Covid-19 tests, or be subject to a mandatory quarantine period.

Bookings.com has running updates of country policies regarding international travel – with very few allowing entry for South Africans. Most travel restrictions relate to tourism and leisure travel only, with exceptions for repatriation, returning citizens, students and medical emergencies.

In Iran, travel is permitted, but no tourist visas will be issued. This is a similar situation in the US (and related territories such as Puerto Rico) where there is no explicit banning of South Africans from travel – but the country and local offices are not currently issuing visas for leisure travel.

Almost all territories caution travellers to keep their movements to essential travel only.

Note: As travel restrictions are changing on an ongoing basis, the below is as reported at 4 October 2020, with the latest available information from each respective country. Many countries have indicated reviews to lists in the coming weeks.

There are many regions – which South Africa has classified as low or medium risk – that are still restricting travel from South Africa.

This includes countries like Canada, Japan and most of Europe, which uses a centralised database to categorise high-risk countries. The definition of high risk can differ from territory to territory, but countries like Russia classify it as a 14-day cumulative Covid-19 infection rate higher than 25 people per 100,000 people.

According to the EU database, South Africa is still high risk, with a running 14-day cumulative infection rate of over 34 per 100,000 population. While this is still relatively high, it is down significantly from the 290 per 100,000 population recorded during the peak of infection in July.

But this still means that South Africans looking to travel abroad for leisure and tourism purposes will be banned from entering countries like France, Italy, Switzerland and most of the EU members that use the same database.

Some EU countries have gradually opened their borders for non-essential travel since July – however, this has only been for visitors from the EU/EEA and the UK, with few exceptions. Most advisories recommend contacting local embassies, where applicable, to confirm the status of any travel restrictions in place.

Confusion and complexity

According to the BER, while South Africa’s careful approach to reopening its borders is understandable, the complexities of the exceptions are not helpful in aiding the recovery of the battered tourism sector.

“Indeed, airline Emirates cancelled all planned flights to SA on Saturday with reports claiming this was due to uncertainty about whether airline crew would have to adhere to the same regulations as tourists, and thus provide a recent negative Covid-19 test.

“Reports on Monday suggest that the matter has been resolved and that the airline will resume flights to SA,” it said.

Industry voices, meanwhile, have warned that, although welcome, the new policies have opened the door to a lot more complexity in travelling abroad.

“Complexity, complexity and more complexity,” said Andrew Stark, Flight Centre Travel Group managing director for the Middle East and Africa. “The ever-changing travel regulations and requirements from the different destinations across the world make for a travel landscape that will be difficult to navigate.

“For now, it is clear that business travellers have more freedom than they had in the last six months, while leisure travellers are somewhat more restricted.”

Stark cautioned that while the reopening of the borders is a vital, positive step in the right direction and will allow South Africans to reconnect with their loved ones, the return to travel is not going to be immediate and holidaymakers should not throw all caution to the wind.

“There still remains a grey area surrounding outbound travel for South Africans to high-risk countries that would permit them entry.”

“We’d advise South Africans to book their non-essential leisure travel now for next year. For this year, consider keeping it close to home with regional travel on the African continent and to the Indian Ocean Islands,” he said

The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, convened an inclusive meeting involving senior immigration officials and ports of entry managers to address the challenges arising from the implementation of Regulations pertaining to travel into the Republic, including opening the tourism industry and promoting trade in order to stimulate economic recovery.
The Minister of Tourism, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, was consulted prior and during the meeting and fully endorses its outcome.
The visa free status of citizens of some countries and territories was temporarily suspended at the start of the lockdown period. In line with the commitment of Government to take urgent steps to address the economic and tourism stagnation brought about by the outbreak of Covid-19, the visa free status of citizens from the following countries and territories has been reinstated:
• South Korea;
• Spain;
• Italy;
• Germany;
• Hong Kong;
• Singapore;
• USA;
• UK;
• France;
• Portugal; and
• Iran.
However, the visa free status does not alter the current Covid-19 Regulations.
The Minister has instructed officials to communicate this decision to the aviation industry, embassies and other stakeholders as a matter of urgency.
The port managers have been instructed to adhere to the SADC protocol and guidelines regulating the movement of essential goods under Covid-19 Regulations. The guidelines regulating truck drivers travelling across the border will continue to apply as has been the case for the past seven months.
In view of the confusion regarding the 72 hours negative test requirement, The Department reiterated that business persons providing services across the borders of SADC are allowed multiple entry subject to the following:
• Producing a certificate of negative Covid-19 test result not older than 72 hours from the time of departure. This certificate is valid for 14 days.
Minister Motsoaledi is fully aware of the issue of airline and maritime crews and he has been informed that the Minister of Transport is resolving the matter and a statement to that effect will hopefully be issued by the Minister of Transport today.
Immigration officers will be required to assess the movement and place of origin of the traveller and not the country of origin of the airline concerned.
Transit travellers through South Africa by air will be allowed to connect to their destinations, subject to them complying with applicable health protocols but need not produce the 72 hours negative certificate.
www.samigration.com

Announcement same date , for ease I produce relevant section , I called around and total confusion at airports , if for example a UK person flew to Turkey , a low risk country and stated for 2 weeks , they should be able to come to Sa as a low risk country person and as a leisure traveller ? at odds with covid19business email requirements , what is your assessment

Minister Naledi Pandor: Re-opening of borders and ports of entry for international travellers during Coronavirus Covid-19 epidemic lockdown level 1

Leisure Travellers from high risk countries will not be permitted.

The exception will be business travellers with scarce and critical skills including diplomats, repatriated persons, investors and people participating in professional sporting and cultural events will undergo the same health protocol screenings. 

If the passport of the traveller from a high risk country indicates that he/she has spent 10 days or more in a low risk country before departure, he/she will be considered to be arriving from a low risk country.

Travellers from medium and low risk countries will only be allowed into the country subject to the prevailing visa requirements. 

Airlines from high risk countries are not necessarily banned, but their crew will be required to isolate in facilities at designated accommodation at the cost of their employer.

Long term visa holders who visit the country for business purposes will be allowed to travel to South Africa. These travellers will also be subject to health screenings for COVID-19 symptoms at the port of entry.  

Minister Naledi Pandor: Re-opening of borders and ports of entry for international travellers during Coronavirus Covid-19 epidemic lockdown level 1

30 Sep 2020

Briefing statement on the re-opening of the borders and ports of entry for international travellers

Fellow South Africans, esteemed travellers and visitors to our beloved country and members of the media, thank you for allowing us, the Ministers tasked with immigration, tourism, health, transport and international relations and cooperation the opportunity to come before you to explain and to give necessary clarifications on how the South African borders will be reopened for international travel from 1 October 2020.

We are also here to explain the requirements that the travellers will be expected to abide by as they visit our country.   

On 15 March 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the National State of Disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act.  In his address President Ramaphosa announced that government was taking urgent and drastic measures to manage the spread of COVID-19 infections, protect the people of this country and reduce the impact of the virus on the society and the economy. 

One of the measures announced by the President entailed the introduction of restrictions on international travel and the closing of borders and ports of entries until the COVID-19 infection rates were reduced into manageable levels. On 20th September 2020, President Ramaphosa announced that the country was moving to Alert Level 1 of the Risk Adjusted Approach. Under Alert Level 1, the country eased some of the stringent restrictions which were imposed on citizens under lockdown.

He further announced that on 1 October 2020 South African borders will be opened for business and leisure travel for international traveller’s subject to a number of restrictions for travellers. These restrictions included that all travellers visiting the country will be expected to abide by the regulations which include mandatory wearing of masks at all times, practising social distancing in public spaces, regular washing or sanitizing of hands and presenting a negative COVID-19 test result not older than 72 hours from the time of departure.

Easing of travel restrictions

As a country we have adopted a gradual reopening of borders and ports of entry for international travel for business, leisure and other travel guided by the communique published by the Word Health Organisation (WHO) on Public Health on considerations for international travel on 30 July 2020.  The gradual reopening of borders and ports of entry informed by a cautious approach means that a limited number of ports of entry and borders will be opened from 1 October 2020. In reopening these selected ports of entry and borders we will be guided by epidemiological and transmission rates both in South Africa and the traveller’s countries of origin.

As Government we will constantly monitor the transmission rates both in the country and the countries of origin and respond accordingly.

In the past month, the country’s health care capacity has significantly improved to treat those infected with the COVID-19 virus. To date the country has conducted over 4 million COVID-19 tests in both public and private health care facilities.  Furthermore, the recovery rate is currently at 90 percent and the numbers of those infected with the virus is drastically reducing at an encouraging rate.

 Due to the sacrifices made, the cooperation and determination of many South Africans we can now confidently declare that the country now has sufficient hospital capacity, including beds, ICU space and ventilators.

We can confidently say that the country is in a position to manage the number of infections and to provide adequate medical care and treatment for those who present COVID-19 symptoms.  These response measures and the cooperation of the South African has been made possible for us to decide to re-open our borders for international travellers and visitors. 

The country has also put measures in place to mitigate the risk of resurgence or a second wave of the spread of the virus by improving its contact tracing and isolation measures. One of the ground-breaking innovations that has been introduced is the COVID-Alert APP which alerts subscribers and provides relevant information if they have been in contact with any person who has tested positive for the virus.  The APP helps to minimize the risk of spreading the virus.

All these measures have put the country at the cutting edge of managing the spread of the virus. We encourage the international travellers who intend to visit the country to download the APP so that they are able to monitor and minimise their risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

Travellers intending to visit the country will be expected to produce a PCR  (polymerase chain reaction) test that is not older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa. This test must be conducted by a certified medical practitioner and should have the name and signature of the practitioner who conducted such test.

Upon arrival in the port of entry, the traveller will be screened for any COVID-19 symptoms or for contact with people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus. 

Travellers will also need to provide proof of accommodation address should they need to  self-quarantine at the time of arrival in the country.

Should the traveller display any COVID-19–related symptoms or been in contact with an infected person(s), they will be expected to take a mandatory COVID-19 test.  This test will be at the traveller’s cost.  If the COVID-19 test comes back positive, the traveller will be subjected to a 10 day quarantine at a designated site.  The accommodation at a quarantine site will be at the traveller’s cost.

South Africa has developed a risk categorisation model for different international travellers. This model classifies international travellers according to a scale of high, medium and low risk.  High risk travellers are those who come from countries with higher numbers of COVID-19 infections and reported deaths compared to South Africa.

Medium risk travellers are from countries with relatively equal number of infections and death toll to South Africa and low risk travellers obviously originate from countries with lesser number of infections of COVID-19 and death toll than South Africa.

Leisure Travellers from high risk countries will not be permitted.

The exception will be business travellers with scarce and critical skills including diplomats, repatriated persons, investors and people participating in professional sporting and cultural events will undergo the same health protocol screenings. 

If the passport of the traveller from a high risk country indicates that he/she has spent 10 days or more in a low risk country before departure, he/she will be considered to be arriving from a low risk country.

Travellers from medium and low risk countries will only be allowed into the country subject to the prevailing visa requirements. 

Airlines from high risk countries are not necessarily banned, but their crew will be required to isolate in facilities at designated accommodation at the cost of their employer.

Long term visa holders who visit the country for business purposes will be allowed to travel to South Africa. These travellers will also be subject to health screenings for COVID-19 symptoms at the port of entry.  

In the interest of all citizens, and the continuing public health efforts, South Africa reserves the right to deny entry of any traveller who is travelling from a high risk country for tourism purposes.

Re-opening of airports for travel by air   

Three airports will be opened and operational for international air travel.  These airports are OR Tambo International (in Johannesburg, Gauteng), Cape Town International (in Cape Town, Western Cape) and King Shaka International in (Durban, KwaZulu-Natal). All travellers landing at these airports must present a PCR test which is not older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa.  Furthermore, the international travellers should possess a mandatory travel insurance which is supposed to cover the COVID-19 test and quarantine costs.   All these travellers will be subjected to COVID-19 screening on arrival.  Those who present COVID-19 symptoms which include elevated body temperatures and flu-like symptoms, will be required to take a COVID-19 test which should be covered by the travel insurance. Should the test results come back positive, the traveller will be subjected to mandatory quarantine, which will also be paid for by the traveller or the travel insurance.  

Travellers from African Countries

To facilitate free movements of people, goods and services from South Africa, SADC and the African continent, travellers from the neighbouring countries are allowed to visit our country. 

Travellers from all African countries are allowed and must possess relevant travel documents, and will also be screened for COVID-19 symptoms.

To allow ease of travel from the African countries, 18 borders will be opened. 35 border posts will continue to offer restricted services due to insufficient capacity for screening, testing and quarantine. Travellers who present themselves at borders which are unable to accommodate them will be directed to the currently operational border posts for processing.

Daily commuters who reside in cross-border areas/towns and those who are from neighbouring countries including those with relevant work permits and school children and teachers will be allowed to enter and exit the borders for work purposes.  These commuters will be screened for COVI-19 symptoms and where necessary will be subjected to quarantine and isolation.  Furthermore, these commuters will be expected to wear face masks, wash hands and sanitise regularly and practise social distancing measures.

Sea ports operations

To facilitate ease of transportation of goods and medicines to and from the country, ships will be allowed to dock, load and off-load cargo. Crew members from the cargo ships will be allowed to crew changes. These crew members will also be medically screened for COVID-19 symptoms. Passenger liners for luxury travel are still not allowed to dock and off-load passengers.

Ladies and gentlemen, we want to appeal to all travellers and tourists for cooperation and increased vigilance in observing all the health and hygiene protocols we have announced today so that we stop the spread COVID-19. Even though we celebrate the reduced numbers of infections, there is still no vaccine to the virus.

We should continue to protect ourselves and those who are close to us from the devastating effects of this pandemic. We call on international travellers to enjoy the diverse tourist attractions of this country and to meet our friendly hospitable people.   

I thank you.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi provides an update on the partial re-opening of borders and services during Alert Level 1

Details

Published: 04 October 2020

04 October 2020

The Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi convened an inclusive meeting involving senior immigration officials and ports of entry managers to address the challenges arising from the implementation of Regulations pertaining to travel into the Republic, including opening the tourism industry and promoting trade in order to stimulate economic recovery.

The Minister of Tourism, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, was consulted prior and during the meeting and fully endorses its outcome.

The visa free status of citizens of some countries and territories was temporarily suspended at the start of the lockdown period. In line with the commitment of Government to take urgent steps to address the economic and tourism stagnation brought about by the outbreak of Covid-19, the visa free status of citizens from the following countries and territories has been reinstated:

• South Korea;
• Spain;
• Italy;
• Germany;
• Hong Kong;
• Singapore;
• USA;
• UK;
• France;
• Portugal
• Iran

However, the visa free status does not alter the current Covid-19 Regulations.

The Minister has instructed officials to communicate this decision to the aviation industry, embassies and other stakeholders as a matter of urgency.

The port managers have been instructed to adhere to the SADC protocol and guidelines regulating the movement of essential goods under Covid-19 Regulations. The guidelines regulating truck drivers travelling across the border will continue to apply as has been the case for the past seven months. 

In view of the confusion regarding the 72 hours negative test requirement, we reiterate that business persons providing services across the borders of SADC are allowed multiple entry subject to the following:

• Producing a certificate of negative Covid-19 test result not older than 72 hours from the time of departure. This certificate is valid for 14 days.

Minister Motsoaledi is fully aware of the issue of airline and maritime crews and he has been informed that the Minister of Transport is resolving the matter and a statement to that effect will hopefully be issued by the Minister of Transport today.

Immigration officers will be required to assess the movement and place of origin of the traveller and not the country of origin of the airline concerned.

Transit travellers through South Africa by air will be allowed to connect to their destinations, subject to them complying with applicable health protocols but need not produce the 72 hours negative certificate.

As communicated on 30 September 2020, visa services, including submission of applications through VFS Global, have resumed in the following categories:

Visitor’s visas; study visa; treaty visa; business visa; crew visa; medical treatment visa; relative’s visa; general work visa; critical skills work visa; intra-company transfer work visa; retired person visa; corporate visa; exchange visa;  waiver of prescribed requirement, as contemplated in section 31(2)(c); and appeals or reviews contemplated in section 8 of the Immigration Act.

Any person from a country listed as having a high COVID-19 infection and transmission rate, who wish to undertake a business travel into South Africa, may, in writing, apply to the Minister of Home Affairs and demonstrate reasons for their request to enter the Republic for business purposes during the period of the national state of disaster.

 Such applications must be directed to email Covid19BusinessTravel@dha.gov.za and supported by:

1. a copy of passport and/or temporary residence visa;
2. proof of business activities to be undertaken in the Republic;
3. proof of travel itinerary; and
4. proof of address or accommodation in the Republic.

The list of high risk countries as published on 30 September 2020 is:

The list of these high risk countries will be updated fortnightly and can be accessed via this link >>> Click here for the updated list

Immigration officers have been instructed to apply the requirements with a measure of flexibility in order to allow applications for business travel to be lodged at the ports of entry if and when necessary and await the outcome before entry into the Republic is allowed.

All other categories of travellers from medium and low risk countries are required to produce a certificate of negative COVID-19 test result not older than 72 hours from the time of departure. Any person who fail to submit the certificate will be required to quarantine at his or her own cost.

Enquiries:
Siya Qoza, ‪082 898 1657 (spokesperson for the Minister of Home Affairs)
David Hlabane, ‪071 342 4284 (media manager for the Department of Home Affairs)

Public Enquiries: 0800 60 11 90