Written by Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press-Kenya At the beginning of this week Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), temporarily suspended all air transport services with inbound and transit passenger movements from Kenya for 48 hours. The new directive took effect on 20th December 2021, at 9.30 am Kenyan time.
However, the suspension does not affect cargo freights and passenger flights from Dubai to Nairobi.
Memorandum
The directive issued on Monday was posted on DCAA’s website, stating that passengers will not be accepted to travel on Emirates flights from Nairobi during this time. The statement noted that affected customers do not need to immediately rebook. But can simply hold on to their Emirates ticket and when flights resume, get in touch with their travel agent or booking office to make new travel plans. However, Outbound passenger flights from Dubai to Nairobi remained unaffected.
Rationale
DCAA did not give a reason for the suspension of the flights, however, a section of Kenyan media indicated that the decision could have been a result of concerns raised over travelers issuing fake Covid-19 certificates. The move followed the cancellation of flights from other numerous African countries as the new Covid-19 variant spreads through the continent.
Other suspensions
On December 12, the United Arab Emirates suspended all frights between Nigeria and Dubai. And also on 17 December, the UAE banned the entry of passengers from the Democratic Republic of Congo and tightened restrictions on flights from a number of other African nations, as per a directive from the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and the General Civil Aviation Authority.
Omicron Resurgence in Kenya
Kenya has seen coronavirus resurgence with a rapidly rising caseload since confirmation of the highly infectious Omicron variant last week. About 1,372 people have tested positive for Covid-19, from a sample size of 5,635 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 24.4 percent, the highest rate recorded since March at the height of the third wave. Total confirmed positive cases are 263,707 with 5,353 fatalities as of Sunday.
Some 8.86 million Kenyans have so far received vaccines. Of these, 5.29 million are partially vaccinated, with those fully immunized at 3.57 million.
