South Africa’s Busiest Border Closes After Week of Covid Chaos
- Demand for tests sees South African land borders snarl up
- South Africa has now shut land borders until Feb. 15
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South Africa’s decision to shut its land borders was preceded by a week of pandemonium as hundreds of thousands of foreigners tried to return to work after the December holidays.
Beitbridge, the only legal road crossing between Zimbabwe and South Africa -- and southern Africa’s busiest inland border post -- was the worst affected. People waited, not always patiently, for as long as four days in lines of traffic that stretched miles from the border gate with delays caused by the need to produce a certificate showing a negative test for Covid-19.