RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In an extraordinary edition of the Federal Gazette published on Tuesday night, October 5, Brazil took a further step in the relaxation of restrictions on the entry of foreigners by air, who will still be required to present a negative test – antigen or PCR – for Covid-19, but no proof of vaccination.
Flights from the United Kingdom had been suspended since last December, except for specific cases, as a consequence of the emergence of the Alpha variant in that country.
The same measure was taken in January for South Africa and in May for India, countries where the Beta and Delta variants were detected for the first time, respectively.
These three variants, along with the Gamma variant which emerged in Brazil, are classified as “of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of their increased infectiousness and are widely circulating in Brazil, particularly the Gamma and Delta variants.
The government is now lifting restrictions with these 3 countries as the vaccination campaign is progressing in the country, with 70% of the Brazilian population vaccinated with the first dose and 45% with the full schedule.
However, Brazil maintained the ban on entry of foreigners by land, except for relatives of Brazilians or in the case of humanitarian crises.
The government has not included new requirements for the entry of foreigners into the country, such as the “vaccine passport” introduced by several countries and some 200 Brazilian municipalities.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic since its beginning and proudly assures that he has not been vaccinated against Covid, has strongly criticized the vaccine certificates because he considers them “discriminatory.”
With nearly 600,000 deaths and 21.5 million infections, Brazil is one of the most affected countries by the pandemic, together with the United States and India.