Kazakhstan suspends air traffic with Egypt over Omicron variant from today

Nur-Sultan [Kazakhstan], December 3 (ANI/Sputnik): Kazakhstan is suspending flights to Egypt starting Friday in an effort to prevent the emergence and spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the Civil Aviation Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development said.
The air traffic between the two countries has been operated by Kazakh domestic carriers Air Astana and SCAT from the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent, Kostanay, and Aktobe to the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
"To prevent the emergence of the new strain of coronavirus infection Omicron on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in line with the decisions of the Interdepartmental commission on preventing the occurrence and spread of coronavirus infection on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it was decided to suspend flights to Egypt from December 3 this year," the committee said in a statement.
The airlines mentioned list around 2,800 Kazakh passengers who are currently in Egypt. They will be taken out of the northern African country on flights operated by the Kazakh carriers from December 3-10, the statement read.
Upon arrival, passengers will have to present a negative COVID-19 test dated no later than 72 hours, as well as self-isolate for one week regardless of their vaccination status in line with the health protocols adopted in Kazakhstan, the committee said.
Several African countries, primarily those situated in southern Africa, have faced multiple travel bans and related restrictions since last week after the detection of the Omicron variant, believed to be more dangerous and transmissible due to its high number of mutations. (ANI/Sputnik)