744 Kenyans Have Been Repatriated from Overseas Due to the Ongoing Covid-19 Crisis

The Foreign Affairs Ministry says it has so far facilitated the repatriation of over 700 Kenyans who were stranded abroad amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ministry, through a statement on Tuesday, May 12th, said a total of 744 citizens have been flown back to the country on chartered planes organized by the government, at their own costs.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to distress calls of Kenyans in several parts of the world and in collaboration with various foreign governments and airlines has facilitated the return of hundreds of Kenyans stranded in several countries,” the statement said.

233 out of the 744 returnees were evacuated from India via a chartered Kenya Airways flight on Friday, May 8th. Most of the 233 evacuees were patients and caretakers who had traveled to India for medical treatment and had overstayed their visas.

“The Ministry was expecting a total of 234 Kenyans. Sorrowfully, and regrettably, we lost one patient as she was about to board the aircraft in Ahmedabad, Gujarati,” the ministry added.

156 Kenyans were flown from the United Arab Emirates, 165 from China, 70 from South Sudan, and 58 from the United Kingdom.

20 were airlifted from Pakistan, 18 from Egypt, 3 from Turkey, 9 from Sudan, and one each from Ethiopia and Somalia. 

“A total of eleven (11) Medical Evacuations have been facilitated by the Government of Kenya. All these have been COVID-19 negative cases except for one Kenyan national working with the UNHCR in South Sudan,” the ministry noted.

The ministry indicated that 191 Kenyans in the diaspora have been infected with Covid-19, out of which 77 have recovered, and 23 have died. 86 others, including four in the ICU, are admitted in hospital.

The 23 deaths are spread across the US (10), UK (6), Italy (2), Switzerland (1), Saudi Arabia (1), South Africa (1), France (1), and Sweden (1).