The United Kingdom on Sunday removed several countries from her Covid-19 red list but again kept Kenya in the category of high-risk nations whose travellers are subjected to strict requirements.
It officially announced that it had taken India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE off the list, added Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway to the green list and moved France to the amber list.
Georgia, Mexico, La Reunion and Mayotte were the latest inclusions in the red zone under which Kenya is classified.
In the UK, since May 7, countries are rated red, amber or green for the coronavirus. Different rules apply to each category.
Before travellers from red list countries go to the UK, they must take a Covid-19 test (except children aged 10 and under), book a quarantine hotel package, including two tests, and complete a passenger locator form. On arrival, they must quarantine in a managed hotel, even if they have been fully vaccinated.
India has registered up to 400,000 positive coronavirus cases in 24 hours and at least 35,000, and has seen coronavirus infections surge due to the Delta variant, far more than anything Kenya has experienced.
In fact, the Asian country’s state of Maharashtra had as of Monday registered 45 cases of the Delta-plus variant per official data from the Indian government.
The original Delta variant has several mutations on its spike protein that make it more transmissible, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which lists Delta as a “variant of concern”.
It also has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of some monoclonal antibody treatments and may partially evade the Covid-19 vaccine.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Foreign Affairs CAS Ababu Namwamba explained that the government will soon provide a way forward.
“We are having meetings from Monday to deliberate on this red list issue. We are very concerned, having been left out, but we shall update you on what we will do next once we are done,” Mr Namwamba assured the public.
In an official response to the Nation, the UK said its decision to place Kenya in the red category had not changed.
“Decisions to introduce or remove countries from the red list are in direct response to the latest scientific and medical data showing an increased risk to UK public health and community transmission,” the spokesperson explained.
“As with all our coronavirus measures, we keep the red list under constant review and our priority remains to protect the health of the UK public.”
In April this year Kenya protested the decision but the UK stood its ground and retained her on the list.
“The decision by the government of the United Kingdom to ‘Red List’ Kenya and to stop all travel from Kenya for those resident in Kenya, and those transiting through Kenya to the United Kingdom has been received with regret and disappointment,” an official response from the Foreign Affairs ministry said.
“This decision by the United Kingdom will have deep and far-reaching consequences on Kenya-United Kingdom trade, travel, tourism and security cooperation.”
“In light of the foregoing and in response to the United Kingdom’s unilateral restrictions of travel from Kenya, the following measures will be enforced,” the government said.
The measures included a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all passengers originating from or transiting through UK airports and two PCR Covid-19 tests at their own cost.
Cargo flights between the two countries were exempted from the rules, as well as Kenyan nationals living in the UK or transiting through its airports into Kenya.
The UK resolved to ‘calm the storm’ by dangling partnerships, sending vaccine donations, which landed in Nairobi last month, and promising to help Kenya fight the pandemic by collaborating in research and genomic sequencing at Kemri.
“Kenya has been allocated 817,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the UK, with the first batch having arrived last week. The allocation is through bilateral donation and the other half through the Covax facility,” the British spokesperson told Nation.
“On Genomic sequencing, an agreement has been reached with Kemri-Wellcome for collaboration between the UK and Kenya to support genomic sequencing capacity building in-county.”
