The government has slightly increased the country’s income quota gradually and at the end of the month 1,000 Argentines will be able to return per day

After the claims of thousands of Argentines stranded abroad, the government has decided to slightly extend the country’s income share. Alberto Fernández’s decision, anticipated by Bugle, it has become official this Friday, in parallel with the extension of the decree of necessity and emergency which sets the guidelines for social isolation for four additional weeks.

The Casa Rosada has ordered the extension of the quota – until this Friday, 600 passengers per day – be gentle and progressive, to maintain established health protocols to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. This was defined by administrative decision 683/2021 signed by the chief of staff, Santiago Cafeiero, and will be valid until August 6.

While this newspaper had advanced Thursday, the president had asked his team for alternatives to respond to the claim of thousands of people who remained abroad. The point is, while the government has made efforts to make it clear that they weren’t ‘stranded’, as in March 2020, when the pandemic broke out, officials have quietly admitted that the situation is generating political unrest, just at the start of the election campaign. .

From now on, the quota will increase slightly during the first week, between this Saturday and July 16. During this period, an average of 740 passengers per day, to complete a total of 5,200 places per week. In practice, it is about one more flight per day that can arrive in Ezeiza.

Between Saturday July 17 and July 24, this figure will increase to 900 daily passengers, already a total of 6300 in the week.

Finally, from Saturday July 24 to Friday August 6, the arrival in Ezeiza of 1,000 Argentines per day, to get a total of 7,000 places per week.

Outside this quota, entry from Uruguay of two passenger vessels per week with a capacity of up to 50 per cent will also be permitted.

What will happen from August 6, when the new provision expires? Will the quota be extended to reach 2,000 daily passengers? Clarín consulted a senior official source. “There is no certainty since, as in all the decisions that we have taken, the epidemiological situation is assessed at the time of doing so,” he replied.

There, various speculations arise. From those who maintain that the situation will tend to normalize, to those who warn that the quota will be reduced again. In the administrative decision, the government recognizes the seriousness of the problem of the Delta variant: in the recitals, it admits that “preliminary data show the low efficacy of a dose of the vaccine” against this strain. In Argentina, only 10.8% of the population benefited from the full scheme.

For now, with this decision, they tell the government, it will be possible to complete the return of thousands of Argentines who are still stranded abroad. They are, they estimate, about 14 thousand passengers.

In this sense, the government stresses that “the recommendation continues to be, from the first day of the pandemic, not to travel abroad”.

“The improvement of the epidemiological situation and the greater respect for administrative segregation (from 60% to 82%) makes it possible to increase the flights for Argentines from abroad to return home”, explained, in a tweet, the director of migration, Florencia Carignano, who acted as spokesperson for the measure.

Thus, after several days of internal deliberation, Alberto F. settles the disputes within his cabinet, where there were different positions on the subject. For example, the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, it was very hard In this regard, during the interview he held this week with his counterparts from the Interior, Eduardo “Wado” by Pedro; and Transport, Alexis Guerrera.

Vizzotti recommended maintaining the quota of 600 daily passengers to contain the entry of the Delta strain. Indeed, he had indicated that the measure imposed weeks ago gave “very good results”, because five cases had been detected and the strain still does not have community transmission in Argentina. De Pedro accompanied his posture.

De Transporte, Guerrera had been inclined to increase the quota, in agreement with Alberto F. who considered that after the coup d’état which reduced from 2,000 to 600 daily passengers, for those planning to travel abroad. “People who now want to travel will analyze it seriously and understand that the conditions are not in place because of the pandemic,” is the reasoning repeated by the president’s interlocutors.

A few days ago, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) visited the head of ANAC in the Transport portfolio, Paola Tamburelli, and there was no agreement. same, the summit lasted less than 15 minutes and the entity that brings together the foreign airlines has pulled out without a response from the government to its demand to develop a “predictable” plan that “allows the industry to operate stably, as the pandemic continues.

But the climate of tension had a chapter before the meeting. Amid complaints from thousands of Argentines and criticism from the opposition, airlines have issued a stern warning. “The scheduling of flights around the world is done months in advance, but in Argentina there are approvals that even arrived a day before and this makes it very difficult to operate, so expect more airlines to temporarily or permanently suspend its operations in this market ”, had previously warned Peter Cerdá, IATA’s regional vice-president for the Americas.

The government responded that the measure was “provisional” and that it strictly obeyed health issues and to ensure the control of the mandatory ten-day quarantine from the completion of the PCR for travel that Argentines must adhere to. The government even challenged the city to implement isolation in hotels for four days, as ordered by the province, to allow it to increase the quota. But the head of government of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, did not give in, like the rest of the governors, even those aligned with the Casa Rosada.