Passengers arriving into the country will no longer be required to produce Covid-19 certificates or valid PCR test result.
This is after the World Health Organization last week declared that the disease is no longer a global health emergency, more than three years after its outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Health CS Susan Wafula said the test certificate will no longer be a requirement for those entering Kenya.
"Any passenger arriving, it was necessary that they give us a certificate of either vaccination and if they have no certificate of vaccination then a Covid test showing that they don’t have Covid so that is no longer there,” she said.
The CS has, however, noted that travellers arriving into the country at any port of entry with flu-like symptoms will be expected to fill the passenger locator form on the 'Jitenge' platform.
They will also be required to take a Covid-19 antigen test upon arrival at their own cost.
"Those who turn positive for antigen testing will be required to take a further Covid-19 PCR test at their own cost," she said.
According to the CS, Those with severe symptoms shall be allowed to isolate as per the prevailing isolation requirements for mild moderate and severe disease.
In a letter to the Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua, Wafula said people travelling out of the country will be required to abide by the particular travel, health and Covid-19 related requirements of the destination country.
She said truck drivers entering the country shall no longer be required to have proof of Covid-19 PCR test or Covid-19 vaccination at the points of entry.
The WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus instead called on the countries to manage the virus that along with other infectious diseases noting despite declining deaths and cases, the virus is here to stay.
He, however, warned that surveillance and genetic sequencing have declined significantly around the world, making it more difficult to track known variants and detect new ones.
“Inequalities in access to life-saving interventions also continue to put millions of people around the world at unnecessary risk, particularly the most vulnerable,” Ghebreyesus said.
The virus that first hit the country in March 2020 has seen at least 5,000 people dead.
The CS said that in the last three months, Kenya like most other countries has witnessed a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases and a drop in the overall positivity rate from a weekly average of 2.5 per cent in mid-January to 0.5 per cent as per April 30.
This, she said means the risk of transmission of the disease remain relatively low.
