Kenya is stepping up pressure on Saudi Arabia to lift travel restrictions imposed over the Ebola outbreak, arguing that the virus has been contained and that the measures are hurting tourism, trade and Kenyan workers in the kingdom.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua raised the restrictions in Riyadh on 12 November with Saudi Vice Minister for Labour Abdullah bin Nasser Abuthnain, telling him the single imported case that triggered the ban had been isolated with no community transmission. The two governments signed a technical annex to a domestic worker recruitment deal, but no change to the travel restrictions was announced.
Saudi Arabia suspended travel by its citizens to Kenya on 31 October, stopped issuing all types of visa to travellers from Kenya and barred their entry, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The ban also applies to travellers arriving through third countries who were in Kenya or other Ebola-affected countries in the previous 21 days. Kuwait has also suspended arrivals from Kenya.
Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease, a species of Ebola, on 6 October. It has recorded nine confirmed cases, including two deaths, all linked to that single case, and no new case has been reported since 19 October, according to Africa CDC. The wider outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs called the Saudi measures a “blanket, punitive measure not supported by epidemiological evidence”, warning that they would affect Kenyan pilgrims, workers, students and businesses. Africa CDC has backed Kenya, saying measures should be based on science and proportionality and that an imported case alone does not show a failure of health security. “Africa needs partnership, not punishment; solidarity, not stigma,” said Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya.
Africa CDC pointed to World Health Organization recommendations that separate targeted measures for cases and their contacts from restrictions on the general travelling public. The African Travel & Tourism Association has also warned against travel restrictions. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is opening its tourist visa to more countries.
