Kenya Airways has suspended passenger flights to Dubai following a 48-hour flights ban by the Middle East country amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Kenya.
The national carrier said Tuesday it would refund passengers who had booked tickets for travel within the suspension period. The travellers will also be allowed to rebook when flights resume.
“KQ will only carry passengers from Dubai to Kenya as per the directive from Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. Any passenger who is affected by the directive and requests for a refund will be facilitated accordingly,” KQ told Business Daily.
Dubai-based Emirates Airlines suspended flights from Kenya on Monday.
“Customers will not be accepted for travel on Emirates flights at Nairobi during this time,” the airline said.
The suspension has seen Kenya join nations, including Nigeria, where Dubai has banned passenger travel.
Kenya’s coronavirus infections rate on Monday hit the highest level since the country recorded the first case of Covid-19 case in March last year, prompting fears of fresh restrictions to curb the pandemic.
Data from the Ministry of Health shows that the positivity rate — the proportion of positive tests — rose to 29.6 percent on Monday from 24.4 percent on Sunday and 6.5 percent on December 13 amid the spread of the infectious Omicron variant.
1,020 people have tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 3,444 tested as of December 20.
Total confirmed positive cases are now 264,727 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,933,764 while total fatalities stood at 5,353.
A total of 8,902,539 vaccines have been administered across the country as at December 20. Of these, 5,310,496 were partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated were 3,592,043. botieno@ke.nationmedia.com
