Nur-Sultan [Kazakhstan]: Kazakhstan is suspending flights to Egypt starting Friday in an effort to prevent the emergence and spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the Civil Aviation Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development said.
The air traffic between the two countries has been operated by Kazakh domestic carriers Air Astana and SCAT from the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent, Kostanay, and Aktobe to the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh. “To prevent the emergence of the new strain of coronavirus infection Omicron on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in line with the decisions of the Interdepartmental commission on preventing the occurrence and spread of coronavirus infection on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it was decided to suspend flights to Egypt from December 3 this year,” the committee said in a statement.
The airlines mentioned list around 2,800 Kazakh passengers who are currently in Egypt. They will be taken out of the northern African country on flights operated by the Kazakh carriers from December 3-10, the statement read.
Upon arrival, passengers will have to present a negative COVID-19 test dated no later than 72 hours, as well as self-isolate for one week regardless of their vaccination status in line with the health protocols adopted in Kazakhstan, the committee said.
Several African countries, primarily those situated in southern Africa, have faced multiple travel bans and related restrictions since last week after the detection of the Omicron variant, believed to be more dangerous and transmissible due to its high number of mutations.
Must Read
- Omicron in UK: Over 100 new cases of Omicron COVID variant,…
- New Variant: South African medical association says Omicron…
- Omicron: Uganda confirms seven Omicron COVID-19 variant…
- Egypt confirms first 3 cases of coronavirus Omicron strain
- UK suspends flights to six African countries as new COVID…
- Kazakhstan's President imposes state of emergency, curfew in…
- South African Minister calls travel bans by countries over…
- Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia suspend travel with African…
- Philippines imposes travel ban on seven more countries over…
- London Mayor declares 'major incident' over spread of…