South Africa, along with ten other African nations, has been taken off the red list - a list of countries that the UK strongly discouraged travel to and from, requiring an expensive, lengthy stay in a government-approved hotel on return, should you make the trip. 

Scientists in South Africa said that travel "ban" never made any sense and that the country was being punished for its excellent genomic surveillance, which identified the Omicron variant early. 

It was another setback for a nation on a continent that has struggled to get vaccines compared to the West.

In today’s episode, we speak to the health journalist Pontshoe Pilane in Johannesburg to find out more about South Africa’s Covid journey: from harsh lockdowns that have exacerbated inequality to the struggle to get jabs in arms that means financial incentives and even mandates are now on the cards. 

Sources: CBS/CNN/MSNBC