Fully vaccinated Kenyans can now travel to UK without fear of quarantine

The UK government has announced that fully vaccinated travellers from Kenya can travel to England without needing a pre-departure COVID-19 test as from Monday, October 11.

This was disclosed in a statement by the British High Commission, viewed by Pulse Live Kenya on Thursday.

They also revealed that the policy includes Kenyans vaccinated with the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Modern and Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the move was possible because of “the increased vaccination efforts around the globe”.

"The measures announced today mark the next step as we continue to open up travel and provide stability for passengers and industry while remaining on track to keep travel open for good," Shapps concluded.

Red List

In September, 18 Kenya was one of eight countries that have been removed from England's Red List.

The Transport Secretary earlier promised to set out new measures to “simplify international travel” in order to “reduce costs, take advantage of higher levels of vaccination, and keep us all safe”.

Being removed from the Red List meant saving on hotel bills as all arrivals had been required to prepay for those facilities for quarantine.

Instead, travellers will be subjected to easier regime of rules that will include testing for Covid-19, if staying longer than a day in the country.

UK nationals had been barred from travelling to those countries, and passengers from those countries had been barred from travelling to the UK. Nationals arriving from Red List countries were required to quarantine at specified hotels, at their cost.