This archive report was first published on 3 August 2020.
On August 1, 2020, Kenya's Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia announced an initial list of 11 countries whose nationals could enter Kenya without quarantine. However, this list did not include the US, UK, or other major European countries.
Just two days later, on August 3, 2020, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) issued a revised list, adding eight countries, including the US, UK, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Qatar. This move effectively restored these countries to the safe flights list.
According to the KCAA, citizens of countries on the expanded list of 19 countries will be allowed entry without having to undergo forced quarantine. The revised list also includes European countries such as Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and Qatar in the Middle East.
However, Tanzania remains excluded from the updated list, despite Kenya insisting it has settled the diplomatic dispute arising from the earlier one, which prompted Dar es Salaam to ban Kenya Airways from its airports.
"All arriving passengers on international flights whose body temperatures is not above 37.5 degrees Celsius… and have negative PCR-based Covid-19 test carried out within 96 hours before travel and are from countries considered low to medium risk Covid-19 transmission areas shall be exempted from quarantine," said KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe.
Travellers arriving from three states in the US – California, Florida, and Texas – will still be subjected to the mandatory quarantine of 14 days due to the high number of Covid-19 cases in these states.
The revised list is expected to boost Kenya's tourism sector, which lost Sh80 billion due to the coronavirus crisis. Tourism contributes 10 per cent of Kenya's annual economic output and employs over two million people.
