NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 30 – Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on Thursday announced protocols which will be enforced when international flights resume in and out of the country on August 1.
He stated that international passengers will be required to present PCR COVID-19 negative tests before they are allowed to board a flight in and out of the country.
The Transport Cabinet Secretary insisted that the passengers must have been tested 96 hours before travel.
Macharia said arriving passengers will be exempted from the 14 day quarantine requirement if their temperature is below 37.5 Degrees Celsius and if they do not have a persistent coughs or exhibit difficulties in breathing.
He announced that citizens of 11 countries – China, Uganda, Rwanda, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Namibia, Japan and Canada – are among those who will be allowed to fly into the country when international flights resume on Saturday.
“This issue about COVID-19, is not static, it get better, it gets worse. Whereas we have an initial list here, by tomorrow we shall review this list depending on circumstances on the ground when we do the global mapping of the trend and intensity of the Coronavirus,” the CS remarked.
“These countries are the countries with mild or limited community transmissions or they have declining incidences and these are the ones we shall be allowing passengers to come from,” he said.
According to the protocol, passengers travelling out the country will be required to abide by the particular travel, health and COVID-19 related requirements of the destination country.
Macharia also urged airlines to ensure that passengers comply with the conditions before boarding.
Airline operators must provide guidance material to passengers regarding application of the preventive measures on board, the Cabinet Secretary emphasized.
“We know that initially the numbers of people travelling will be quite low so we shall be reviewing in the first week to see how many flights are getting to Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu or Eldoret and the we shall take the appropriate measure for social distancing,” CS Macharia said.
About The Author
