Kenya has suspended all flights from India for 14 days, following the spike in COVID-19 infections. All passengers arriving in Kenya are required to quarantine for two weeks on arrival, according to Cabinet Secretary of Health, Mutahi Kagwe.
A number of countries including Bangladesh, the UK, Oman, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada have either banned travel to and from India or asked their nationals coming from the Asian country to isolate in government-approved hotels. The flight restriction against India seemed to be the best decision for Kenya, considering its capacity in terms of vaccination, isolation facilities and the number of health personnel.
India has seen soaring infection rates, a rapidly rising death toll and the discovery of a new virus variant. The country has also reported massive shortage of oxygen in hospitals. This has resulted in many sick people being turned away, as the hospitals are full to the brim, and the health system currently overstretched.
Countries like Britain, the United States and Canada have pledges support for India. The county has so far vaccinated about 300 million people, against its full population of about 1.3 billion people.
On Wednesday, 28th April, India recorded 360,000 new infections, a global record, and more than 3,000 deaths. The death toll has surged past 200,000 as infection rates soar in the vast country of 1.3 billion.
Kenya is still experiencing a third wave of coronavirus infections, though cases and infection rates have tapered off in recent weeks. April has been the deadliest month since the pandemic began, with 535 fatalities from the disease recorded since the beginning of April.
Kenya has recorded around 158,300 cases and more than 2,600 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak.