Covid-19: Kenya imposes mandatory quarantine on travellers from 6 countries

Kenya has added travellers from five countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list.

Travellers from Brunei, Thailand, Kuwait, the Czech Republic and Pakistan will now be required to quarantine for two weeks at their own cost on arrival, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has said.

The notice took effect on May 8, with the countries joining the United Kingdom on the list.

Pakistan borders India, whose travellers have been banned and is dealing with a devastating second wave of Covid-19.

“Travellers are required to have a negative PCR-based Covid-19 test result conducted within 96 hours before travel and should not display any flu-like symptoms upon arrival,” the notice states. They should also provide evidence of booking into a quarantine location 24 hours before boarding.

Those arriving from the UK are required to have a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test and “must self-isolate on arrival for seven days,” KCAA states.

PCR test

“All UK citizens and residents travelling to Kenya from UK, irrespective of their route of travel to Kenya, and who do not have a valid Covid-19 negative PCR test certificate shall be subject to 14 days’ mandatory quarantine on arrival at a government facility at their own cost,” the notice reads. According to KCAA, Kenyan citizens only require a negative PCR test to travel, but the government will allow travellers below 18 years into the country as long as they have a negative PCR test result.

Brazil, whose Covid-19 cases still remain high after recording 63,430 new cases on Saturday, is on the list of countries whose travellers are exempt from quarantine effective May 8. The government has exempted from the new restrictions all African countries, as well as travellers from the United States of America.

Quarantine

The government was recently criticised for allowing travellers from India into the country without requiring them to quarantine despite a high number of cases and deaths being reported in the South Asian nation.

As a result, at least five cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 have been recorded in the country and more suspected cases are being investigated. The travellers jetted into the country on the day the Ministry of Health banned passenger flights from India for 14 days on April 29.

Covid-19 cases and deaths in Kenya continue to drop.

Yesterday, 316 new cases were recorded from a sample of 4,251 — a positivity rate of 7.4 per cent, but this may rise if public health measures are not taken seriously.

According to a statement from MoH, there were 1,099 patients admitted in hospitals, 133 being in the Intensive Care Unit and six in the High Dependency Unit.

As of yesterday, 916,800 people had been vaccinated in Kenya.

[email protected]