Kenya Not to Quarantine Ugandans As Country Opens Airspace

Ugandans flying toKenya will not be quarantined as the country opens its airspace to commercial flights today. 

Kenya released a list of countries whose residents are allowed in Kenya and won’t be quarantined. This effectively means that Uganda Airlines, the national carrier, can resume flights to different Kenya destinations including Nairobi and Mombasa.

Travellers to Kenya will have to pass a temperature test on arrival and must have been tested for the virus within 96 hours before travel, Kenya said.

This marks the resumption of commercial flights in the region with RwandAir, the national carrier of Rwanda, also resuming flights on Saturday. Entebbe International Airport is not yet open which means foreigners are not allowed to come into the country. 

The list of countries where Tanzania, a key partner in the East African Community, is not named has, however, instigated fights in the region. The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority has consequently banned Kenya Airways from flying to Dar Es Salaam.

In a letter last night, the TCAA said: “the authority regrets to inform you that, on a reciprocal basis, the Tanzanian government have decided to nullify its approval for Kenya Airways flights between Nairobi and Dar/Kilimanjaro/Zanzibar effective August 1, 2020, until further notice."

This is not the first time Kenya and Tanzania are going up in arms, an indicator of the shaky ground the EAC integration is standing.

In May, Tanzania said the government said Kenya was declaring its truck drivers coronavirus positive to scare tourists from going there.

Tanzania then said 15 of its truck drivers that had been blocked from entering Kenya after reportedly testing positive for coronavirus disease, had tested negative in Tanzania. 

The EAC members have shown a disjointed approach to the response to the pandemic which has bred mistrust. 

While Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda instituted lockdown and share information on testing and positive cases, Tanzania and Burundi have refused to say they didn’t have the virus in their territories. The lack of information on what is happening in Tanzania and Burundi leaves serious questions on how to deal with them.

List of countries identified and announced yesterday from which travellers will be exempt from quarantine are  Canada, South Korea, Namibia, Uganda, China, Rwanda, Morocco, Japan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Switzerland, The United States of America (except for California, Florida, and Texas), United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Italy.