Chinese nationals have been warned to exercise caution when travelling to South Africa by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, who issued an Amber Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) on Monday due to ongoing violent xenophobic attacks.

According the statement release, a Government spokesman said: "Hong Kong residents intending to visit South Africa or who are already there should monitor the situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety and avoid protests and large gatherings of people."

Previously there was no OTA issued against travel to SA; an Amber OTA is issued when there are signs of a threat within a country.

Although Australia, the UK and Canada have not changed the level of advisory for SA, which still stands at the level where nationals should exercise a high degree of caution, they have added warnings of xenophobic violence in Johannesburg, Durban and other parts of KwaZulu Natal province.