US: Do not travel to Kenya due to Covid-19 surge
Do not travel to Kenya due to Covid-19. This is the message that the US, a country that has recorded 31 million Covid-19 cases and over 560,000 deaths is sending to its citizens, who may be willing to travel to Kenya.
In an April 8 update posted on the US Kenyan embassy website, America also urges its citizens to exercise increased caution in the country due to crime, terrorism, health issues and kidnapping.
“International flights are still operating, though limited. Internal flights are restricted, and road and rail transportation are limited geographically and by curfew. Most businesses are operating, but with significant restrictions on the dining and entertainment sector,” the US travel advisory states in part.
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Kenya has so far reported 143,063 Covid-19 cases out of 1,542,088 cumulative tests so far according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health. The country reported 16 deaths on April 8, bringing the cumulative fatalities due to the pandemic to 2,292.
The embassy also advises Americans against travelling to the Kenya-Somalia border and some coastal areas due to terrorism, areas of Turkana County due to crime and Nairobi neighborhoods of Eastleigh and Kibera due to crime and kidnapping.
The US travel advisory comes a day to the coming into force of a similar advisory issued by the UK to Kenya.
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“From 4am on April 9 visitors who have been in or transited through Kenya in the previous 10 days cannot enter the UK. British and Irish nationals and third country nationals with residence rights in the UK arriving in England from Kenya will be required to quarantine in a hotel,” reads a statement on UK embassy.
The move prompted Kenya to act tough, equally demanding that all UK citizens and residents travelling to Kenya from the UK via any route who have a valid Covid-19 PCR test, but do not have a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate, will be subject to 14 days’ mandatory quarantine on arrival at a government of Kenya facility at their own cost.
According to the latest data from John Hopkins Hospital Covid-19 tracker, the UK has suffered about 4.4 million Coronavirus cases with 127,000 fatalities.
In the US, as some states mull lifting restrictions in recent days and worrisome coronavirus variants spread, scientists and federal health officials have been warning that a new wave of cases could arise in even as the nation’s vaccination drive gathers speed.
