Brazil will require a negative PCR test to allow …

The government of Brazil announced today that from December 30, Brazilians and foreigners disembarking at airports in this country must test negative PCR of the coronavirus to enter.

The executive indicated this in a resolution published in the Official Journal of the Union, which also announces that all land or river borders will be closed to non-residents or Venezuelans crossing the northern border.

What should be considered

“The traveler of international origin, Brazilian or foreign, must present to the airline responsible for his flight, before boarding, a document verified by carrying out an RT-PCR laboratory examination, to follow the infection by SARS- CoV-2, with a negative / non-reactive result, carried out a maximum of 72 hours before shipment ”, sets the standard.

The traveler must also complete a form indicating that he will comply with the sanitary measures in force in Brazil.

According to the decree, anyone who does not comply with the requirement can be expelled or repatriated, as well as held civilly, administratively and criminally responsible.

The same decree extends again by three months the rule that prohibits foreigners from entering Brazil by land or river borders, with the exception of Venezuelans who wish to take refuge in the country.

Bolsonaro was slow to implement the restrictions

The restriction of travelers who disembark at Brazilian airports abroad had been recommended several months ago by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) but the government had refused to impose it.

President Jair Bolsonaro, leader of the Brazilian far right, is one of the leaders most skeptical about the severity of the covid; criticizing any measure of social distancing in the face of the pandemic and opposing the population forced to be vaccinated.

The restriction was announced at a time when several countries have launched campaigns to vaccinate their populations against covid and the country is suffering from a second wave of the pandemic.

Is Brazil facing a second wave?

Brazil on Thursday recorded 1,092 deaths from covid, which once again exceeded 1,000 deaths per day for the first time since September 30 (1,031) and accumulates 184,827 victims of the pandemic.

On Thursday, 69,826 new cases of the disease were also recorded, a number slightly lower than the record of 70,574 infections recorded on Wednesday and the second highest since the country suffered the first, on February 26, with which the total number of infected. arrived. at 7,110,434.

The data confirms Brazil, with its 210 million inhabitants, as one of the global epicenters of the pandemic and the second country with the highest number of deaths from covid, after the United States, and the third with the most of cases, after the United States and India.

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Health has yet to acknowledge that Brazil is facing a second wave of the pandemic without overcoming the first, regional governments admit the situation has worsened and have announced distancing measures social organization to try to stop the advance of the coronavirus.