Important information for those planning to arrive in Kenya in the coming days.
Kenya's Ministry of Health has circulated to foreign embassies the new rules for foreign travelers planning to enter the country, valid from December 23, 2021.
In addition to the aforementioned obligations to enter with a vaccination certificate, there is also the shortening of the validity of the PCR swab, which remains mandatory for everyone, including vaccinated people and also for children under 18 (up to children 5 years of age). If before the swab could be valid for 96 hours from the arrival in one of the Kenyan airports, now the time is reduced to 72 hours, but from the departure.
Let's say that on average you lose 12 hours of validity, so you have to do the swab even closer to the trip.
This is the full statement:
The Kenya Ministry of Health has announced that all passengers 18 years and older arriving in Kenya will be required to present a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate effective immediately. All outbound passengers from Kenya will also be required to present a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate, in addition to meeting existing requirements under the Trusted Traveler Initiative. COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization are considered valid by public health officials in Kenya.
In addition to the COVID-19 vaccination, all passengers 5 years and older must present a negative and valid COVID-19 PCR test certificate issued within 72 hours of departure. All passengers will continue to be required to complete the Traveler Health Surveillance Form as required by the Ministry of Health. Additional information on COVID-19 entry and exit requirements can be found on the U.S. Embassy's COVID-19 information page at the following link.
All passengers with influenza-like symptoms at a Kenyan point of entry, or those who develop clinical symptoms of COVID-19, will be placed in isolation and tested for COVID-19 at a Kenyan government testing center.
Beginning December 21, 2021, all travelers originating in or transiting through certain African countries (South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, and Nigeria) entering Kenya will be required to undergo rapid COVID-19 antigen testing upon arrival. A random sample of all travelers arriving in Kenya, regardless of their origin, may also be tested.
Any person who tests positive for rapid COVID-19 antigen testing at their point of entry into Kenya will be isolated for 10 days in a Kenyan government-designated facility or, for returning Kenyan residents, at home. All passengers in isolation will need a negative COVID-19 PCR test to be released.