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Africa has some of the lowest Covid infection rates in the world, so why is the UK government rejecting it?
secondBritain is discriminating against Africa by refusing to establish a travel corridor to the continent despite having some of the lowest Covid rates in the world, says a new campaign spearheaded by South African-born England cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
Ambassadors and heads of the travel industry say the UK’s top destinations in Africa have rates well below the UK’s threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 and below other European and Asian nations on the free ‘green’ list. quarantine from the United Kingdom.
However, the councils of the Foreign Office prohibit British people from traveling, and if they do, they face a 14-day quarantine upon return. Countries include Rwanda (which has a seven-day case rate of 0.3 per 100,000 population), Uganda (1.9), Zambia (2.3) Kenya (4.5), Namibia (13.1) and South Africa (19.3).
Mr Pietersen: “With COVID infections so low, it seems discriminatory not to have corridors to African countries from the UK. Sanitary measures are extremely good in countries like Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa.
“It no longer makes sense that Africa is effectively isolated from the UK. I urge the UK government to open corridors as they would be a lifesaver for many. “
Africa has confused predictions that there would be 10 million deaths on the continent due to poor living conditions and medical care. Although its 1.2 billion inhabitants represent 17 percent of the world’s population, the continent accounts for only 3.5 percent of reported Covid-19 deaths.
If Kenya had the same death rate as Great Britain, it would have buried 32,000 people, not the 691 reported. One factor in the low rate is the profile of many countries that are younger than most other Western nations. The harsh actions of governments have also played a role.
Yamina Karitanyi, Rwanda’s ambassador to the UK, said: “Many African countries, like Rwanda, have done an impressive job of keeping the number of cases low. Now RwandAir is flying from Heathrow to Kigali, we hope that an air corridor can be opened quickly as we are a country proud of our record keeping Covid away. “
Jimi Kariuki, Managing Director of Sarova Hotels & Resorts in Kenya, says: “We believe that it is very unfair to impose general quarantine requirements in all African countries, but as a continent we have continued to record infection cases much lower than the UK and Europe .
“Livelihoods are seriously at risk if the tourism sector is not supported by the influx of international visitors, as their businesses depend heavily on a strong and vibrant tourism industry.”
Infection cases in Kenya currently represent 0.08% of the population. All UK citizens and most EU citizens are exempt from quarantine upon arrival provided they present a valid negative COVID-19 result.
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