Long queues were witnessed at the JKIA as the foreigners, mainly Chinese, who had been stuck in the country since March scrambled to make their way out of the country. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Friday witnessed a mass exodus of Chinese nationals after Kenya partially reopened her skies.
The Ministry of Transport on Thursday said that it had cleared 11 countries for the resumption of international flights in and out of Kenya scheduled to commence tomorrow, August 1.
Long queues were witnessed at the JKIA as the foreigners, mainly Chinese, who had been stuck in the country since March scrambled to make their way out of the country.
When asked why they were leaving the country, many said they were doing so as a measure of precautions following an upsurge of the Covid-19 infections in Kenya.
Majority of those leaving were women and children. The Chinese nationals had earlier applied to leave the country but their embassy had opposed the bid.
The countries cleared by the government are China, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Zimbabwe Ethiopia, Switzerland, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia and Morocco.
While making the announcement on Thursday, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said passengers from the selected countries, who will be flying in, will be exempted from the mandatory quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19, 96 hours before travel and exhibit no symptoms of the killer virus.
And as preparations for the resumption of international flight take centre stage, the government said it had crafted a raft of measures that will guide air travel operations.
Those who will arrive or have flights during curfew hours must show valid boarding documents to the authorities with their drivers also showing proof that they were at the airport.
Airlines have been directed to provide passengers with relevant information about Covid-19 preventive measures especially in an instance where physical distancing is hard to implement.
Additional reporting by Salaton Njau.
Credit: Source link