Botswana: Coronavirus

(asked on 3rd December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of comments by President Masisi of Botswana on 2 December that (1) the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may have been brought into Botswana by European diplomats, (2) that travel bans on Botswana are “unacceptable, inhumane and demeaning”, and (3) that no one is safe until everyone has access to vaccines.


This question was answered on 13th December 2021

The Government acted quickly to impose travel restrictions, including on travellers from Botswana, when the Omicron variant first appeared. This was to protect the progress made in the UK while we work to better understand the challenges of the new variant. We recognise the frustrations in the many countries affected and the Minister for Africa spoke to her counterpart in Botswana on 26 November to discuss and explain the restrictions. UK scientists are working closely with colleagues around the world to tackle COVID-19 and will keep the travel restrictions under review.

The UK is committed to ensuring that people in the poorest countries receive vaccines. We were a leader in setting up the international COVAX facility, to provide access to vaccines for both self-financing countries and up to 92 low and middle income countries eligible for subsidised vaccine doses. As a self-financing participant in COVAX, Botswana has received 700,000 COVID vaccine doses to date.

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