President Kenyatta hit out at Western nations over travel bans

NAIROBI, Kenya

President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta has hit out at Western nations over the recent move to issue travel bans, mostly against African countries, following the new strain of COVID-19 dubbed Omicron.

President Kenyatta, speaking during his State of The Nation address at Parliament buildings on Tuesday afternoon, urged Western nations not to isolate other countries where the new variant have seemingly been detected.A

According to the Head of State, this will only make the situation worse as cooperation is necessary between all countries if the world is to have a chance at completely getting rid of the virus.

“…I look forward to all our international and global partners…Covid will not be defeated by locking us all down and by shutting off parts of the world that you think is problematic,” he said.

“No one will be safe from Covid until we’re all safe. Please, jameni, tumefanya kazi, msitufungie tena jameni.”

This comes after the United States on Friday announced that it will bar entry to most travellers from eight southern African countries starting on Monday, after Omicron - a potentially more contagious new coronavirus variant - was identified in South Africa.

The travel restrictions do not ban flights or apply to U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. permanent residents, President Joe Biden said.

The restrictions apply to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in those countries within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.

Countries around the world rushed to suspend travel from southern Africa after the World Health Organization said Omicron was "of concern." Many of those bans kicked in immediately.