Kenya Airways suspends flights to and from China over coronavirus

Kenya Airways has suspended flights to and from Guangzhou, China following the coronavirus outbreak.

"We have temporarily suspended all flights to and from Guangzhou starting Friday 31 January 2020, until further notice," said Kenya Airways.

The airline says it is working closely with the ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs and will provide updates as the situation develops.

Kenya Airways (KQ) however clarified their service between Nairobi and Bangkok remains operational.

The national carrier on Wednesday came under pressure to suspend its flights to China in the wake of continued widespread of the coronavirus.

KQ however said it is observing the situation and would determine, if there was “need to cancel the flights to China”, acting CEO Allan Kilavuka indicated.

Kenya is reported to have Africa's sixth-highest risk of receiving a case of the new coronavirus imported from China, according to a new modelling study produced by Northeastern University in the US.

On Tuesday, Kenya Airways confirmed that a passenger who travelled from Guangzhou to Nairobi on January 28, 2020, had been quarantined at the Kenyatta National Hospital as a precautionary measure.

Through a statement to newsrooms, KQ stated that the decision was arrived at by the Kenya Government Port Health Authorities although the passenger had been cleared to travel from China.

The Ministry of Health on Friday confirmed that the test results of the suspected Coronavirus case quarantined at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) which were dispatched to South Africa for analysis are negative.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau advised Kenyans against travelling to China unless it is extremely necessary.

“Kenyans are urged to avoid non-essential travel to Wuhan until the situation there is contained. Those on essential travels must comply with additional screening measures that have been put in place by authorities,” he said.