Kenya Issues Travel Advisory to Tanzania Amid Spike in COVID-19 Cases and Deaths

Kenya has issued a travel and safety advisory against Tanzania due to rising COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country.

Through the Director of Public Health Dr. Francis Kuria, the government urged Kenyans living and working in Tanzania to exercise caution by observing COVID-19 protocols to avoid being infected with the virus. 

The Health Ministry further called on Kenyans to avoid unnecessary travel to the neighboring nation, adding that all border points are under strict surveillance.

“We are asking Kenyans in Tanzania to seek informed advice about the disease. We are alert. We have heightened surveillance at the border to avoid any further imported infections. We have also advised Kenyans, in general, to avoid unnecessary travel to Tanzania,” Kuria said.

Last week, Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli refused to impose a lockdown despite a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths but declared three days of prayer to seek God’s intervention.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently urged Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases and share its data. Tanzania is yet to update its COVID-19 caseload since April 2020, when Magufuli declared the country coronavirus-free and urged citizens to go on with their business as usual.

Magufuli has also questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, terming them as “dangerous.” 

In the past three weeks, Tanzania has lost 10 prominent individuals to COVID-19 complications including former Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Governor Prof. Benno Ndulu, former Finance and Planning permanent secretary Servacius Likwelile, Chief Secretary Ambassador John Kijazi, and Zanzibar’s First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad.