The Minister of Health, Francisco Coma, detailed this Friday the restrictions on entering the country of people from several countries as a result of the new variant of covid-19, called omicron.
During a conference, Health authorities said that citizens or people are prohibited from entering that have been in the last 14 days in eight countries.
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These nations are South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Swaziland.
The measure will be applied at the borders maritime, land and air, said the Ministry.
The ministry clarified that the entry of Guatemalans, foreigners with permanent residence in Guatemala, diplomatic corps accredited in the country and aircraft crews, will be allowed. even if they have been in the aforementioned countries in the last 14 days.
Nevertheless, must have a vaccination certificate with a complete schedule or negative PCR / antigen test 72 hours prior to entering the country.
In addition, the Ministry added that, in these cases, lpeople must serve 10 days of quarantine in the place they have and paid for by them.
Several countries are cracking down on the discovery of the new variant of the omicron coronavirus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Friday that the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus, first notified by South Africa on 24 November, It is a “worrying” variant, and he named it omicron.
Last April, the country issued an entry ban for travelers from Brazil, UK and South Africa due to an increase in coronavirus infections. The measure was terminated six months later.
Municipalities go down in red
Coma said that this Saturday the Epidemiological Alert Traffic Light will be updated in the country and anticipated how the situation will be for the next 15 days.
He reported that municipalities in red fell from 58 in the previous period to 29, while the municipalities in orange alert went from 116 to 89.
Consequently, the localities with yellow alert they had a dizzying rise from 116 to 222.
The minister attributed the decrease in cases in the municipalities to vaccination and added that, if these figures are continued, there will be a “happy” end of the year for everyone, although he urged not to lower the guard with the fulfillment of the protocols.
The official guaranteed the supply of vaccines for the country, as well as syringes.
With about 17 million inhabitants, Guatemala has accumulated since March 2020 more than 617 thousand cases of covid-19 and about 16 thousand deaths.
Third dose will start in December
The Health Minister said that, although the third booster dose against the coronavirus has not officially begun, They are working on the final details of the program to start as soon as possible.
He added that they hope to start in the first days of December with the personnel who are on the front line against the pandemic.
The risk of missing syringes
Although the Health authorities assure that they have enough syringes to meet the vaccination plan, some health areas have difficulties to buy them.
The high demand for syringes has become a challenge for the Ministry of Health, because apart from attending to the vaccination plan against the coronavirus they must also apply other biologicals, and therefore some medical units do not find this input, which is cause for concern.
Amid the donation of two million Moderna vaccines by the US Government, that country granted 1,246,000 syringes, what happens in “critical moments of shortage to support continuous vaccination”.
Regarding the shortage of syringes, the Minister of Health, Francisco Coma, acknowledged that bottlenecks may occur due to the high demand that exists, but ensures that the Government seeks to acquire more syringes internationally through the Pan American Health Organization, with whom they have already negotiated eight million.
Syringes are not only used to deliver doses against the coronavirus, but also for the rest of the vaccination programs.
“We have made direct purchases, we have held events and we are in the process of acquiring and we were notified of the entry of around eight million syringes throughout different deliveries, which we have worked with the Pan American Health Organization through purchasing mechanisms and we are also in management processes to require all syringes that are necessary. At the moment we are having, we know that if there is a lot of vaccination we will have bottlenecks, but we are anticipating and we have made the necessary requirements and orders ”, said Coma.
Until now the Ministry of Health has used for the vaccination process against the coronavirus nine million 766 thousand 742 syringes.
Syringe number 23 with needle 22 is usually used for doses against the coronavirus, that in the pharmacies per unit they cost between Q0.75 to Q2.30; However, in the Guatecompras portal there are more than 20 competitions from Health areas, hospitals and the IGSS that are in search of this input.
One of the last contests was the Central Guatemala Health area that required 675 thousand syringes, but they only received an offer for 200 thousand at a cost of Q2.87 each, for which they paid a total of Q70 thousand.
Another example of the challenge to find this input is reflected in an event on November 10, where the direction of the Health area of Petén Norte was looking for the acquisition of gloves, 600 thousand syringes, masks and alcohol; however, they were able to find suppliers for everything else except syringes.
This same problem has been faced by several executing units and hospitals such as the San Juan de Dios and Roosevelt General Hospitals that have had to declare the events void due to not finding a provider.
* With information from EFE
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