UPDATE: Chinese Embassy in Kenya Denies Evacuation Flight Scheduled for Today, Confirms Ambassador’s Departure

The Chinese embassy in Nairobi is denying the recent report published in the Daily Nation newspaper that 400 Chinese nationals are scheduled to be evacuated from Kenya on Tuesday, June 16th. Those Chinese nationals, according to the Daily Nation story, obtained a clearance from the High Court that ordered the government to allow for an evacuation flight that was supposed to take off today. The Chinese were concerned that amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak in Kenya, it would not be safe for them to remain in the country due to mounting pressures on the health care system.

But embassy spokeswoman Huang Xueqing flatly denied the report: “That newspaper report is fabricated. There is nothing like that,” she said, “There is no passenger flight to China this week.”