By Leon Lidigu
It officially announced that it had taken India, Bahrain, Qatar
and the UAE off the list, added Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia,
Romania and Norway to the green list and moved France to the amber list.
Georgia, Mexico, La Reunion and Mayotte were the latest
inclusions in the red zone under which Kenya is classified.
In the UK, since May 7, countries are rated red, amber or
green for the coronavirus. Different rules apply to each category.
Before travellers from red list countries go to the UK, they
must take a Covid-19 test (except children aged 10 and under), book a
quarantine hotel package, including two tests, and complete a passenger locator
form. On arrival, they must quarantine in a managed hotel, even if they have
been fully vaccinated.
India has registered up to 400,000 positive coronavirus cases
in 24 hours and at least 35,000, and has seen coronavirus infections surge due
to the Delta variant, far more than anything Kenya has experienced.
In fact, the Asian country's state of Maharashtra had as of
Monday registered 45 cases of the Delta-plus variant per official data from the
Indian government.
The Delta-plus variant is a sub-lineage of the Delta
variant.
The original Delta variant has several mutations on its
spike protein that make it more transmissible, according to the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which lists Delta as a "variant of
concern".
It also has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of
some monoclonal antibody treatments and may partially evade the Covid-19
vaccine.
Red List
Speaking in a telephone interview, Foreign Affairs CAS Ababu
Namwamba explained that the government will soon provide a way forward.
"We are having meetings from Monday to deliberate on
this red list issue. We are very concerned, having been left out, but we shall
update you on what we will do next once we are done," Mr Namwamba assured
the public.
In an official response to the Nation, the UK said its
decision to place Kenya in the red category had not changed.
"Decisions to introduce or remove countries from the
red list are in direct response to the latest scientific and medical data
showing an increased risk to UK public health and community transmission,"
the spokesperson explained.
"As with all our coronavirus measures, we keep the red
list under constant review and our priority remains to protect the health of
the UK public."
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