European Union countries agreed on Wednesday May 19th to ease Covid-19 travel restrictions on non-EU visitors ahead of the summer tourist season , a move that could open the bloc ' s door to all Britons and to vaccinated Americans . Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved a European Commission proposal from May 3 to loosen the criteria to determine " safe " countries and to let in fully vaccinated tourists from elsewhere , EU sources said .

They are expected to set a new list in the coming weeks . Based on data from the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention , Britain and a number of other countries would meet the new criteria . The United States would not , although Americans with proof of vaccination would be welcome .

One EU diplomat said cases of the Indian variant in Britain would need to be taken into account , although individual EU countries are already setting their own policies . Portugal lifted a four-month travel ban on British tourists on Monday 17th May .

Under current restrictions , people from only seven countries , including Australia , Israel and Singapore , can enter the EU on holiday , regardless of whether they have been vaccinated . Individual countries can and will still be able to choose to demand a negative Covid-19 test or a period of quarantine .

The current main criterion is that there should be no more than 25 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days . The trend should be stable or decreasing and there should be a sufficient number of tests , which would need to show a minimum percentage of negative tests . Variants of concern can be taken into account . The foregoing analogy is lifted near verbatim from Reuters .

Why would a Kenyan be bothered whether or not Britons or Americans can enter the European Union ? Your guess is as good as mine . Is this the beginning of a new form of racism ? Vaccine racism ?

Not that I would emphatically advise anyone to travel at this particular point in time and especially for tourism . I may not

Knowing fully well that the vaccine doesn ’ t necessarily stop one from getting the infection , it however markedly reduces chances of severe disease and death . As I take my chances with the vaccine , I ’ ll continue to perform routine preventative measures that include hand washing , wearing masks and social distancing . have been all around the world but I have had my fair share of International travel and my unequivocal conclusion is East or West home is best . We have the greatest treasure on earth . The only country within an area of only 580,367 km ² where you will go from beautiful pristine white sandy beaches to Savannah the land of Safari , get all the way to snowcapped Mount Kenya , wonder at the beautiful flamingoes of the lakes in the rift valley , eat “ fis ” by the Victorian lakeside and even travel to arid and desert regions in Northern Kenya . I may sound like a travel advertisement , however please take advantage right now rates are cheap for the brave to tour our marvelous land of Kenya .

Back to the point am articulating on the subject matter . Several challenges have abounded the nation since the coronavirus pandemic snaked through our borders . The first was on availability of tests kits . Both public and private sector have tried their level best but we have been unable like most countries to achieve universal testing threshold .

Now if you look at the advisory it states that the positivity rate should be less than 25 people per 100,000 tested in the last 14 days . For those who have not become bored by watching the covid numbers on May 19 the new cases reported were 376 with a sample size of 4,153 which is way above the figure proposed by the union which would translate to 90 per 100,0000 tested . Meaning we cannot meet the criteria . But unlike western world the majority of people being tested in Kenya are usually because they have symptoms .

This means you will need to have been fully vaccinated to travel to these destinations .

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Covid-19 Vaccination ... The Saga Continues