Chile announced border closures until July 14 after arrival of Delta variant of COVID-19

The Chilean Ministry of Health has announced that for this weekend, a cordon sanitaire will be set up in the metropolitan region of the capital and that Border closures will be extended until July 14 due to the arrival of the Delta variant of COVID-19 to Chilean territory.

The regional secretary of the Ministry of Health, Paula Labra assured that the country has “determined to strengthen and increase all entry measures into our country”.

Therefore, trips abroad can only be made in exceptional circumstances and with an authorization from the virtual police station in accordance with the following requirements: Yes, it is essential for the country, by humanitarian measure, because it is essential for the health, a person who undertakes a trip and does not return to the country.

With regard to Travelers entering Chile must adhere to strict health protocols before and after landing in the capital. Those who do not comply will be subject to a health check.

Labra added that offenders The Mobility Pass will be deactivated until payment of the fine imposed on it following the summary.

More, Chile will extend by 90 days, until next September 30, the constitutional state of emergency disaster for public calamity that currently governs the country as a restrictive framework to fight the pandemic, which has already left 1.52 million people infected and 31,797 dead in the country.

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday approved the request made by the president of the country, Sebastián Piñera, “in attention to new strains of the virus” and “because the current epidemiological context occurs in winter”, as an official letter argues.

It is precisely this Thursday that the presence in Chile of the first case of the contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus was confirmed in a 43-year-old woman who arrived from the United States.

With 3,448 infected and 51 deaths detected in the past 24 hours, the country appears to be emerging from a second wave that has put the hospital system on the ropes and forced the entire capital to be re-confined, although the vast majority of outlying districts abandoned confinement this Thursday.

All this as part of a successful vaccination process that already has over 65% of the target population (consisting of 15 million people) inoculated with two doses and over 80% with one injection.

THE MEASURE DOES NOT CONVINCE EVERYONE

The president’s proposal to prolong the state of disaster and thus be able to maintain movement restrictions, quarantines and curfews was brought forward in Congress despite the failure to gain unanimous support from the United States. lawmakers from the conservative government bloc Chile Vamos.

Some of them rejected the measure because they understood that more openness is needed, at least for the vaccinated and the companies, and to remove the curfew.

There were also opposition parliamentarians who were against it, in what was the second time the state of disaster had to have congressional approval to be extended.

The declaration of the state of disaster for public calamity corresponds to the president of the country, but since the measure has already stretched for more than a year since its first enactment, it needs the approval of Congress by simple majority.

The measure was initially adopted on March 18, 2020 for a period of 90 days, just two weeks after the confirmation of the first contagion of covid-19 in the country.

Since then, and including that of Thursday, the state of disaster has been extended five times, always for the same duration, as a framework measure under which it applies other restrictions that make it possible to curb the circulation of the virus.

(With information from the EFE)

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