Colombia has barred non-resident arrivals from India by means of the tip of June in an effort to forestall the unfold of COVID-19 variant B.1.617, the well being ministry mentioned on Friday.
The restrictions got here into power on Thursday, though vacationers who have been already within the air or on their journey to Colombia are exempt.
The variant’s doubtlessly increased charges of transmission motivated Colombia’s determination, the ministry in a press release.
The B.1.617 variant is believed by some specialists to be much more transmissible than the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in Britain.
India’s hospitals and crematoria have been overwhelmed by a second wave in coronavirus circumstances.
It is broadly accepted official figures of greater than 25 million circumstances within the Asian nation grossly underestimate the true influence of the epidemic, with some specialists saying infections and deaths may very well be as much as 10 instances increased.
Colombia’s restrictions apply to vacationers who’ve been in India inside the final 14 days or who had a connecting flight there, the assertion mentioned.
Travelers who’re exempt from the ban, together with diplomats and people with work visas, should current a destructive PCR take a look at upon entry, take an extra take a look at inside 24 hours of arrival and a 3rd on the seventh day after entry.
They must also be in strict quarantine for 14 days, the assertion mentioned.
“Combined with Colombia’s confrontation of a 3rd peak within the pandemic, the advisory committee for confronting the COVID-19 pandemic advisable the suspension of entrance to the nation of non-resident vacationers from the Republic of India,” the ministry’s director of epidemiology Julian Fernandez said.
Colombia’s major cities are weathering a third peak of infections expected to last through the end of May, with large anti-government protests blamed for extending high case numbers.
The Andean country has confirmed nearly 3.2 million infections and over 83,000 deaths over the course of the pandemic. It has so far administered 8 million doses of coronavirus vaccines.
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