“We should interpret the data from South Africa with a lot of caution,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, said. ”This is early days and public health practice is local.”

In November when South African scientists raised the alarm about the variant, Britain scrambled to red list travel to swathes of southern Africa. Within days the US and the EU had followed suit.

While there UK red list has now been lifted there is still palpable rage in South Africa against the UK, which shares strong social and economic with Africa’s most industrialised nation.

Christmas is the peak season for the country’s embattled tourism sector and the flight bans have had a devastating impact on the country’s finances.

The South African government is now demanding financial compensation from Britain for the bans, saying that its economy took a serious hit. “Are you going to compensate us, because it has now been proven that the travel curb was wrong,” said South Africa foreign affairs spokesperson.

Reportedly, the British High Commissioner in South Africa has acknowledged the decision caused economic damage but stressed the move was made in the interest of public health.