Angola has lifted travel bans imposed against fellow Southern African countries that had recorded cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

Luanda, the capital city had suspended travel to and from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, in efforts to curb entry of the new strain into its borders.

The lifting of the ban comes as leaders of those countries continue to condemn the travel bans which have been termed as being knee-jerk reactions and discriminatory.

The decision was announced late on Tuesday by Francisco Furtado, the Angolan minister of state and head of the security house of the president of the republic, during an update on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Angola has so far reported a total of 65,475 confirmed COVID-19 infections, with 1,737 fatalities.