The Kenyan Health Ministry On Wednesday said it has decided to suspend flights to and from India after midnight on Saturday amid the coronavirus surge in that country, reported Anadolu Agency.
Mutahi Kagwe said the decision was taken after a meeting with National Emergency Response Committee (NERC). He said the suspension of flights was necessary to curb the spread of the virus considering the worsening COVID-19 situation in India and surging infection numbers.
Notably, India is currently witnessing soaring infection rates, a rapidly rising death toll, and the discovery of a new virus variant.
“Given the dire events in India, we resolved to suspend all passenger flights in and out of the country for a period of 14 days,” Kagwe said. “This suspension is to take effect from midnight this coming Saturday.”
The flights to India have been suspended for 14 days subject to review.
The Kenyan health minister, however, said cargo flights between Kenya and India will remain in service upon adherence to the coronavirus containment measures.
A number of countries, including Britain, Canada, France, New Zealand, Singapore and the U.S. have either banned travel to and from India or asked their nationals coming from India to isolate in government-approved hotels.
Kenya was among one of the few countries still allowing passenger flights to India. Kenyans took to social media to express their angriness over the issue. Social media platforms were flooded with messages on Wednesday that forced the Health Ministry act following reports that a passenger plane had left India and was headed for the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Kenya reported a total of 834 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday bringing the number of confirmed cases to 158,326. The number of tests stands at 1,659,506. About 1,300 patients are currently admitted to hospitals and other coronavirus facilities. 23 people have died of the virus in the last 24 hours.
