Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for travel bans to be "urgently" lifted "before further damage is done to our economy."

"We call upon these countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our other Southern African sister countries to immediately and urgently reverse their decisions and lift the bans they have imposed before any further damage is done on our economies and to the livelihoods of our people," he said.

Several countries have implemented travel restrictions to South Africa and other African countries in an attempt to stop the spread of the new Covid variant Omicron.