The Kenyan government will from Monday digitally scrutinize the authenticity of all COVID-19 certificates held by travellers leaving and entering Kenya.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that Kenya is hell bent on ensuring that the certificates held by travelers are genuine.
The Health Ministry has partnered with the African Union and Africa CDC who are getting technical support from PanaBIOS.
PanaBIOS has developed a system that will verify the authenticity of the COVID-19 certificates issued in line with protocols set by Trusted Travel Initiative (TTI).
“I, therefore, wish to notify travelers to first visit an authorized laboratory to take an RT PCR Covid-19 test and be issued with Trusted Travel (TT) codes that can be verified by airlines and Port Health authorities,” Kagwe said according to the Star.
The system will work in a way that travelers will get an alert via SMS from PanaBios in sync with the testing laboratory.
It will have a travel Code which is what will be used to authenticate if it is genuine.
“If a test result meets the exit and entry requirements of Kenya and the traveler’s destination, a Travel Code is then issued to the traveler online,” the CS added.
Already, Covid testing laboratories in the country have migrated to the new system.
UNDP-supported Global Haven partnership will provide a verification tool for travelers coming to Kenya whose countries have not migrated to the TTI system
Kagwe said that from Monday 11, January 2021, no traveler will depart from Kenya without verification of their certificates using the TT process.
“No traveler will depart from Kenya without verification of their certificates using the TT process. No laboratories are permitted to issue Covid-19 certificates without TT codes from January 9, 2021,”
