Guatemala lifts entry restriction for travelers from African countries by omicron

Guatemala annulled this Friday the restriction imposed in November on travelers from eight African countries due to the appearance of the omicron variant of covid-19, the government reported.

The Ministry of Health indicated in an agreement published in the official gazette that the “circumstances” for which the entry of people who have stayed in the last 14 days in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, “no longer persist”. , Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Egypt.

“It is not common for them to come to Guatemala [desde naciones africanas]but in any case, since a new variant has appeared that is much more aggressive and for which there is no vaccine, then we have to take care of ourselves,” President Alejandro Giammattei had said at the time.

“Currently there is no entry restriction for any country” to Guatemala, Alejandra Mena, spokeswoman for Migration, said this Friday.

However, he pointed out that all foreigners who enter Guatemalan territory must present a negative test for covid-19 (antigen or PCR) and a card with a complete schedule of any vaccine.

Guatemala, with nearly 17 million inhabitants, has accumulated more than 800,000 cases of coronavirus and some 17,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Until now, only 5.8 million people over 12 years of age have received the two doses of anticovid vaccines, while the country already applies the booster.

The authorities were preparing to start care for children from 6 to 11 years old this Friday in the vaccination campaign that many people resist due to “myths” and “rumours”, according to the government, which led to the expiration at the end of February one million doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccines.

Opponents, on the contrary, attributed it to communication deficiencies of the Executive.

hma / yow

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