Kenya's flag carrier going cashless to beat COVID-19

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Kenya’s flag carrier announced on Friday that it would take measures to eliminate person-to-person contact by introducing cashless transactions as part of the fight against the coronavirus.

Chief commercial and customer experience officer for Kenya Airways, Julius Thairu, said the airline was encouraging customers to use mobile money payments, debit and credit cards to boost staff and passenger safety.

"This process will reduce the complexity of work for our agents, who will no longer have to worry about handling cash, finding exact change, or closing out a cash drawer at the end of the day. This is positive news for our customers and our team members at the airport," Kenya's Star News quoted Thairu.

He said the new payment service would launch Sept. 1.

This comes as Kenya faced a surge in cases, with the Ministry of Health announcing that 1,414 people tested positive for the virus from a sample size of 10,235 tested in the past 24 hours.

Deaths rose by 31, while 1,670 patients have recovered, 2,066 are receiving hospital care, 9,323 are under self-isolation and 167 are in intensive care units.

A total of 2,290,801 vaccines have been administered in Kenya.