Senegal resumed international flights Wednesday July 15, four months after shutting air traffic due to the coronavirus pandemic.

An Air Algeria flight arrived in Dakar on the midnight of Tuesday with six other flights expected to depart and arrive throughout the day.

‘‘Today, to come to Senegal, we demand strict compliance with border measures, namely the wearing of masks. Everybody wears a mask, you have the physical distance, even at the seats where you rest. We have alcohol-based gels everywhere, even at the ATMs”, Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, General Director of Public Health said.

Passengers departing this West African nation are required to proof that they have tested negative for the virus within the past 7 days.

“When the passengers arrive, you have thermal cameras, you have the thermoflash. They go through temperature checks which allows us to insulate them. We have also asked by mutual agreement with the civil aviation that to arrive in Senegal, they have a PCR test that is negative through laboratories that have been cleared”, she added.

The certificate has to come from a laboratory within the country where the trip originated from.

Land and sea borders remain closed. Senegal lifted its state of emergency and curfew, imposed in March to stem the spread of the virus, at the end of June.

The number of cases in Senegal continues to spike. More than 8,300 infections and 153 fatalities have been recorded since March 2.

AFP