Kenya Airways Suspends Flights On Rome-Geneva Route Over Massive Coronavirus Outbreak

Kenya Airways has suspended flights on the Rome-Geneva route over the massive outbreak of the coronavirus.

In a statement on Thursday evening, KQ stated that the suspension that is effective immediately will last until April 30, 2020.

Rome is the Capital City of Italy while Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich).

All the affected customers, who had active reservations, KQ said it will rebook them on alternative flights.

The airline said it will extend a full refund to those who would like to cancel their travel or waive booking fees for those willing to reschedule their flights to a later date.

The national carrier further announced that it has activated a Crisis Management protocol to proactively address situations as they arise and implement appropriate actions.

Read: KQ Still Flying to Italy Despite Massive Coronavirus Outbreak

This, the airline said, will be done in consultation with relevant government ministries.

“We continue our engagement with the relevant ministries and Government agencies in Kenya and across our network and will provide affected customers with updated information in a timely manner, ” the statement reads.

“The situation remains dynamic and we are constantly monitoring any developments.”

KQ had been heavily criticized for operating flights in the Nairobi-Rome route despite the widespread of the virus in Italy.

The government had on March 3 halted flights from northern Italy cities of Milan and Verona over the coronavirus fears.

Currently, Italy is on a total lockdown as coronavirus fear spread across the world with many countries putting in place emergency measures to contain the situation.

The Kenyan government has maintained that there are no cases of coronavirus in the country as all reported cases have tested negative.

Globally, more than 118,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak, which is fast spreading across the world, a pandemic.

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that #COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” said WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

A pandemic is a disease for which people do not have immunity spreading over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population

According to WHO, coronavirus is a respiratory illness clinically resembling viral pneumonia and manifesting as fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

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