After four of total suspension on foreign passenger flights, the Government has today announced that international flights will resume starting August 1 with China and Zimbabwe among countries allowed air travel to Kenya.
Other countries are South Korea, Japan, Canada, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, France, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia and Morroco. Macharia said the countries were selected based on their declining COVID 19 cases.
According to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, agreed protocol dictates that passengers who will arrive with a PCR-based COVID-19 negative certificate and body temperature not exceeding 37.5°C will be exempt from quarantine.
He however noted that this is not a blanket approval and there is an initial list of countries from which passengers will be allowed entry into Kenya.
The Transport CS said the list will be reviewed on an ongoing basis because the COVID-19 situation is not static.
Passengers traveling out of Kenya will now be required to abide by the particular travel, health and COVID-19-related requirements of the destination country. The airlines have been urged to ensure that passengers comply with the requirements before boarding.
In addition, passengers arriving to Kenya after curfew has begun, that is 9pm, will be required to have a valid air ticket to be allowed to proceed to their hotels or residences.
The government will also require that drivers of passengers for international flights to have evidence that they came from the airport.
Passengers departing on flights after curfew will have to ensure they have a valid air ticket and boarding pass to be allowed to proceed to their destination or departure airport.
This as Kenya is less than 100 patients shy of the 20,000 mark. The country has recorded 788 new cases of Covid-19, raising the country’s total to 19,913.
The new positives were drawn from the 5,521 people whose samples were tested within 24 hours.
On a positive note 100 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country so far to 8,121.
However, 14 more patients succumbed to the virus with the government raising alarm over the death of nine patients without pre-existing conditions in the latest Covid-19 tally.
Only five out of the 14 deaths registered in the last 24 hours were of patients with comorbidity, with the Director of Public Health Dr. Patrick Amoth urging the youth to take the prevention measures seriously to avoid contracting the deadly virus.