The United Kingdom (UK) has maintained placing the East African nation of Kenya on its list of nations whose citizens will not be allowed to enter its borders. This news is coming even after extensive efforts by Kenya to get the United Kingdom’s position of placing a travel embargo on it, reviewed.
The United Kingdom (UK) had sometime last week updated the nations on England’s “Red List”. The move came in the middle of fresh concerns regarding the spread of new variants of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
Kenya which was first include on the “Red List” in April of 2021 has remained on said list. The move has according to Business Daily Africa, led to a retaliatory block by Kenya of all citizens of England from entering into its borders.
The travel ban on Kenya by the United Kingdom (UK) is also coming at a time when there have been numerous concerns regarding that the extremely contagious Delta variant of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) could result in a fourth (4th) wave of infections in Kenya in the next two (2) months.
It is also an indicator that even the reconciliation conversations which were fist initiated in the middle of April 2021 to positively evaluate the travel restrictions between the United Kingdom (UK) and Kenya and which threatened to negatively affect economic relations, security relations and bilateral trade, were not reason enough for the United Kingdom (UK) to remove its movement limits.
The ban on Kenya by the United Kingdom (UK) has added to the moves by more than 50 countries all over the world who have denied access to Kenyans as more and more countries make deliberate attempts to protect their citizens from the new variants of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
In May of 2021 the East African nation removed the ban it had placed on all flights between Nairobi and London. It also eased up on the restrictions it had imposed after its inclusion in England’s “Red List”.
The United Kingdom (UK) has so far categorized countries into the segments; the “Amber List”, the “Green List” and the “Red List”. Each of the three (3) segments or categories come with different levels of restrictions for the affected countries’ citizens, getting into the United Kingdom (UK).
For any British citizen who is traveling from a country on the “Green List”, he or she will not be required to undergo any mandatory quarantine.
All travelers who get to the United Kingdom (UK) from countries who are on the “Red List”, will be denied entry. For British citizens returning from said countries on the “Red List” will have to go through a mandatory quarantine in hotels, for a period of ten (10) days.
The strict restrictions which Kenya had imposed on all travels from Britain that required them to be isolated for fourteen (14) days before they will be granted entry until the country, has been lifted.
In a review carried out in the middle of June 2021 the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) made it known that the non citizens and British citizens who travel via London will only be required to self isolate for a period of seven (7) days.
According to the United Kingdom (UK) its decisions are based on scientific evidence with regards to the incidence of extremely contagious and deadly strains of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
It is said that the rapidly transmissible Delta variant of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) which was first identified in India, is now prevalent in the western part of Kenya. The western part of Kenya is also where it was first detected in the country.
The Kenyan Government swiftly imposed a number of restrictions on movements in the western region so as to prevent the Delta variant of the Coronavirus from spreading to other parts of the country.
More and more countries are putting plans in motion to being allowing unrestricted travel for all individuals who have taken both doses of the vaccine. In the East African nation of Kenya an estimate of 1.61 million people have received at least the first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine. Out of that number 581,003 have received their second doses as well.
The Kenyan Government is expecting not less than 13 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses from August of 2021 and has set a target for the vaccination of not less than 10 million individuals in the country by the end of December 2021, as well as the vaccination of the entire adult population of 26 million by the end of 2022.
As at the 17th of July of 2021 Kenya had confirmed 192,435 cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and 3,760 deaths, along with a positivity rate of 10.5 percent.
The decision by the United Kingdom (UK) has reportedly dealt another major setback not just in Kenya, but all over the continent of Africa as a significant number of its countries are currently on the “Red List” with Nairobi being the last major hub for most connecting flights into the United Kingdom (UK).
Countries from the Middle East are also on the United Kingdom (UK)’s “Red List”.
The United Kingdom (UK) is among Kenya’s major trade partners. In 2019 it alone, had the fourth (4th) largest arrivals through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with a total of 181,400 visitors.
In the first half of 2021 the total number of tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom (UK) into Kenya was at 16,264. This is significantly lower than the 42,341 that was attained during the same period in 2020 and represents a decline of 62 percent.
Apart from the United Kingdom (UK) Singapore, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Cambodia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Argentina, and Australia are among the number of countries that have either placed restrictions on holders of Kenyan passports, or banned them outright.
Other countries are Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, and Hong Kong. According to Henley & Partners, Cameroon is the only country in Africa that has placed restrictions on Kenya.
The Henley Passport Index has revealed just deeply the still ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on Travel.
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