According to the International Air Transport Association, air travel demand is low compared to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, according to studies, it was 63 percent lower in May 2021. While the world is slowly reopening for travel, the World Health Organisation warms countries not to act in haste as that can have devastating results.

Britain reported more than 30000 cases for the first time since January on Wednesday, at a time when the government is looking to lower the restrictions. The country has said that it would provide genomic sequencing support to countries such as Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan to help them identify the new variants. The world is currently worried about the contagious Delta variant, and France has reported that 40 percent of its COVID positive cases are Delta variants.

Portugal, on the other hand, has reported 3000 daily cases in the last 24 hours, while Coronavirus cases in Germany have increased after a decline for more than two months.

Closer home, Japan, the host of the Olympic Games, this year is expected to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo for 16 days before the Games begin. Indonesia is looking at a grim trend, as it reports 1000 deaths due to the virus for the first time. South Korea too has reported the second highest number of daily cases ever recorded.

Mexico reported the highest number of daily infections since February, while in the Middle East and Africa, Tunisia is struggling to contain the virus as it reports 8000 daily cases, and 119 deaths.

Source: TOI

Only a system as complicated as the European Union’s could help finance the COVAX facility to make sure the rest of the world has access to coronavirus vaccines, while potentially raising barriers to entry to Europe on the grounds that its regulatory agency doesn’t recognize these same vaccines. This is exactly what the EU has done with the Digital COVID Certificate.

Launched on July 1, the pass aims to ease travel within and (in theory) to Europe for EU citizens and residents who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19.

Currently, this easy-to-use vaccination passport — designed to spare travelers cumbersome and expensive quarantines or multiple PCR tests — is valid only for recipients of one of the four vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA): Comirnaty (BioNTech-Pfizer), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Spikevax (Moderna) and Vaxzevria (Oxford-AstraZeneca).

Not included on this list of approved vaccines, however, is Covishield: the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that was produced under license by the Serum Institute of India. As of July 2, the COVAX facility had distributed more than 95 million COVID-19 vaccines to 134 mainly low- and middle-income countries — the vast majority of them Covishield. Specifically, the India-made vaccine accounts for 96 percent of doses delivered in India and more than 90 percent of those given in Africa, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The reason the Digital Green Certificate doesn’t recognize Covishield is that the vaccine does not currently carry market authorization within the EU, and its manufacturing site has not been assessed — both of which are required steps for the vaccine to receive EMA approval. The institute now states that it will submit a request for approval, but in the meantime, Covishield recipients are in limbo.

Were similar vaccine passports to become the norm for international travel, the Green Certificate could set a precedent that makes travel to Europe all but impossible for those who have been double vaccinated with Covishield.

The EMA does say that member countries are free to make their own decisions to accept travel certificates for vaccines that are not on its approved list. And under threat of reciprocal bans on entry to India for their nationals, 11 European countries have already signaled they will accept Covishield vaccinations as valid for travel. These include Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Greece, Estonia and Spain, as well as Schengen zone members Switzerland and Iceland. However, individuals will only be able to travel to these individual countries, not within the EU.

In the long run, these rules could be an economic own goal for Europe, which needs people to move for business and tourism. More immediately, it exacerbates vaccine inequality between industrialized and developing countries and undermines the call of all those who mobilized for a new, equal partnership. Furthermore, the EU move may fuel wider resistance to vaccination in the developing world.

Denying Green Certificate eligibility to Covishield effectively creates two classes of vaccines. It also sets the EU in opposition to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has approved eight vaccines against COVID-19. The lack of EU recognition for identical AstraZeneca vaccines presents even more of a double standard, as WHO and the EMA use the same criteria and methodology to assess vaccine safety and efficacy.

The world needs more vaccines, and fast. COVAX is supposed to be the international mechanism to immunize the global population, using vaccines that meet WHO standards. There are huge international efforts underway to increase the number of sites around the world that can produce vaccines, and Africa is the top priority because of its large population and limited manufacturing capacity.

The EU proclaims solidarity through vaccine doses exported, funds donated to COVAX and a new €1 billion initiative announced in May to help develop vaccine production capacity and medical technology in Africa. But for developing countries struggling to contain the virus and experiencing the greatest hit to their economies, the Green Certificate exclusion adds insult to injury.

Europe has already earned a yellow card for undermining global efforts to control measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases through its failure to tackle vaccine reluctance. Now it risks a red as its actions raise fears about COVID vaccines’ efficacy and increase hesitancy in places where people don’t have the luxury of choosing which vaccine they get.

Europe says it wants to be a trusted partner for Africa, supporting efforts for strategic autonomy in medical supplies. But warm words ring hollow if the medical supplies funded by Europe result in discrimination and exclusion.

By not recognizing Covishield and other WHO-approved vaccines for the Digital Green Certificate, the EU is setting a precedent and shooting itself in the foot, both ethically and politically. If this bureaucratic blunder is not fixed fast, it will do lasting damage to Europe’s credibility in Africa and across the developing world.

Source: Politico

Delta Air Lines and Kenya Airways have inked a codeshare agreement that will enable both airlines to serve an extensive network while offering travel to a total of 39 cities across Africa, the U.S. and Canada.

With the new enhanced agreement, Delta customers flying nonstop on the airline’s services from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Accra, Ghana, will be able to connect with Delta-marketed codeshare flights to Monrovia, Liberia and Freetown, Sierra Leone flights served by Kenya Airways. Delta-marketed codeshare flights will also be available on Kenya Airways’ services from Nairobi to Cape Town, South Africa; Harare, Zimbabwe and Kigali, Rwanda.

On the other hand, Kenya Airways has placed its code on Delta’s services to Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport, offering customers increased access to the U.S. capital, as well as on flights to to Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Delta is the leading U.S. airline in Africa. Strengthening our partnership with Kenya Airways responds to customer demand for more travel choice between the continent and North America,” said Alain Bellemare, Delta’s E.V.P and President International. “These codeshare services will offer customers greater access to destinations in South, West and East Africa, rounding out Delta’s existing network of nonstop services to Accra, Dakar, Johannesburg and Lagos.”

Julius Thairu, Kenya Airways Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, added, “Kenya Airways and Delta Air Lines’ partnership remains central to our plans of offering the fastest connections to the Americas from our Nairobi hub and is in-line with our brand promise of enabling the sustainable development of Africa by providing access to different markets. In addition to Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport and Indianapolis, Indiana, other destinations we have within the codeshare are New York: Chicago O’Hare – Illinois, Denver – Colorado, Orlando – Florida, Miami – Florida, Raleigh Durham – North Carolina, Phoenix – Arizona, Charlotte – North Carolina.”

Delta will also make its return to South Africa with nonstop service between Atlanta and Johannesburg beginning August 1.

The airline will deploy its Airbus A350-900, marking the debut of one of Delta’s newest aircraft in its fleet between the U.S. and South Africa. The aircraft features the award-winning Delta One Suites and Delta Premium Select cabins, large seat-back entertainment screens and high-capacity overhead bins, among other enhancements.

With Delta’s partners operating across the continent, customers can make one-stop connections to 42 additional markets in 32 countries.

The airline currently operates nearly 20 weekly flights to its African markets, including daily service between Atlanta and Lagos as well as between JFK and Accra, and five-times-a-week service between JFK and Dakar. On July 8, Delta will resume four-times-weekly service to Lagos from JFK as well, with the airline restoring all its Pre-COVID African markets.

Source: Airline Geeks

Africa Centres for Disease and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the African Union (AU) have expressed their concern after it has been revealed that the EU Digital COVID Passport does not recognise the vaccine doses that were donated to numerous African countries through the COVAX initiative.

The EU COVID pass only recognises the AstraZeneca doses, also branded as Vaxzevria produced by European Medicines Agency (EMA) manufacturers in Europe, China, South Korea, and the US among the doses donated in Africa, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In contrast, the vaccine doses made by the largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, also known as Covishield, which has been categorised as the backbone of the contribution from the COVAX initiative to countries with low and medium-income will not be recognised.

Nonetheless, Estonia, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, and Greece are the EU countries that have confirmed that they recognise Covishield vaccine certificates despite the Commission’s decision not to. Several other countries, Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland, reportedly also accept this vaccine, but no official announcement has been made by the authorities of these countries.

“In the EU, the vaccine called Covishield does not currently have a marketing authorisation. Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, Covishield as such is not currently approved under EU rules. This is because vaccines are biological products,” EMA stated.

Regarding the matter, EMA stated that the agency is not to be held accountable for any of the decisions related to COVID-19 vaccination status and the travelling restrictions for those wishing to travel to the EU.

In addition, the agency noted that since the smallest differences in the manufacturing conditions can make discrepancies in the final product, the EU law demands the manufacturing and the process of production to be evaluated and approved before any decision is made.

The European Union emphasised once again that the COVID passport is not a precondition for travel into the block and that the Member States can permit entry to persons who have been immunised with vaccines that have completed the WHO Emergency Use Listing process.

Since the two vaccine doses of the Indian-produced AstraZeneca vaccine do not allow travellers to enter the EU, a large number of the world’s population is excluded from the current travel policy of the block.

As such, Africa CDC and AU have encouraged the EU Commission to try and increase mandatory access to the COVID pass for vaccines that are suitable from global rollout utilising the COVAX facility supported by the EU.

“The current applicability guidelines put at risk the equitable treatment of persons having received their vaccines in countries profiting from the EU-supported COVAX Facility, including the majority of the African Union (AU) the Member States,” the joint statement of AU and Africa CDC reads.

Source: Schengenvisainfo news

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) has intensified efforts to market Kenya to the rest of Africa by targeting key source markets in the region.

Speaking aboard the Tamarind Dhow in Mombasa County, KTB Corporate Affairs Manager Wausi Walya, who represented Chief Executive Betty Radier, said the move would increase tourist arrivals at a time when global tourism is reeling from the effects of Covid-19.

“There is immense potential in both regional and the African market we are trying to capture. One of them is to play host to familiarisation trips like this one and entice the travel trade to sample what Magical Kenya destination has to offer,” she said.

Walya was speaking at a special cocktail for 15 travel and tour operators from Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, who have been on a week-long product sampling of Kenya’s popular tourist destinations.

Positive growth

The visitors have been to Nairobi, Nanyuki, the Maasai Mara, Tsavo, Diani, Malindi and Watamu on a mission to see the various tourist attractions. Before Covid-19, tourism on the continent was on a positive growth trajectory.

Travel experts say tourism numbers on the continent have grown at a rate of 8.6 per cent over the past years compared to a global average of seven per cent.

Tourism in Africa is rated as the fastest-growing market in the world. Walya also stressed the need to actualise increased growth and collaboration between Africa’s tourism destinations to tap into the potential that exists in the continent.

She noted that promoting intra-Africa tourism could at the same time catalyse the generation of opportunities within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Kenya Airways General Manager for Kenya and North Africa Rose Kiseli promised to support the sector through flexible bookings and ticket prices. “We are seeing increased uptake in passengers now taking to flying with June this year being the best. People are getting confident to travel. Airlifts now average 60-65 per cent,” she said. The agents lauded the country’s tourism with Travelneza Uganda boss Laura Kagame singling out the unique hotel settings.

Alpine Travels from Rwanda Marketing Manager Niyonzima Fred lauded the Nairobi-Mombasa Madaraka Express Passenger train service saying it enables tourists to see the scenic Tsavo wildlife.

Ethiopia’s Danex Tours and Travels Managing Director Daniel Melaku said the tourists were keen to visit the beach market that is popular with Ethiopian tourists.

Source: The Standard