UK adds Kenya on its Covid-19 travel blacklist

Kenyans travelling to the United Kingdom will be subjected to mandatory stay at quarantine hotels after Kenya was added to the UK’s ‘red list’.

The British High Commission in Nairobi said in a statement on Friday that the decision was made after a significant number of Kenyans tested positive on the second day of arriving in the UK.

The restriction takes effect on April 9.

The announcement comes days after a British newspaper quoting the British High Commission in Nairobi, hinted at Kenya joining the ‘red list’.

“The British High Commission has the regret to inform the Ministry (of Foreign Affairs) that Her Majesty’s government has taken the decision to add Kenya to its Covid-19 related quarantine list,” reads the statement.

“Nearly a third of those testing positive have been carrying the B.1.351 variant which originated in South Africa,” it said.

Here is a full list of countries currently on the UK’s red list:

 

Angola

Argentina

Bangladesh (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Burundi

Cape Verde

Chile

Colombia

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ecuador

Eswatini

Ethiopia

French Guiana

Guyana

Kenya (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)

Lesotho

Malawi

Mozambique

Namibia

Oman

Pakistan (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines (will be added to the list 4am Friday 9 April)

Qatar

Rwanda

Seychelles

Somalia

South Africa

Suriname

Tanzania

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Uruguay

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe