Argentina reopens its borders to immunized tourists after 19 months of restriction

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina reopened its borders to foreign tourists on Tuesday, after entry was banned for 19 months due to the coronavirus pandemic, within the framework of the good epidemiological situation of the country, highlighted the Minister of Transport, Alexis Guerrera.

“Today, the air, maritime, and river borders are opening normally. We are returning to normality. We have been looking for a long time for Argentina to be in a position to reactivate such an important industry as tourism. It is a long-awaited day, and we prepared with great responsibility for this to happen,” Guerrera informed in a press release.

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The minister assured that Argentina “is prepared for tourism due to the works carried out and the technology applied in airports during the pandemic.”

Within this framework, he pointed out that 227 flights were authorized between November 1 and 7. “Let’s take into account that yesterday (Monday) there were 31 flights and a few months ago there were between 10 and 12 flights (daily). It is a significant advance, and we estimate that between 6,000 and 8,000 passengers will be received daily in the air mode,” he predicted.

On October 1, Argentina had opened its borders to citizens of neighboring countries, a measure that is now extended to all foreigners.

According to the new regulation published this Tuesday in the Official Gazette, those entering the country must have a complete vaccination schedule against Covid-19 carried out at least 14 days before their arrival and present a negative PCR test. The antigen test upon arrival will no longer be required.

Tourists must also have Covid-19 insurance.

In case of not having both doses, foreigners will not be allowed to enter, while Argentineans and residents will undergo quarantine.

The opening of borders is framed in a notable improvement of the epidemiological situation due to the progress of the vaccination campaign and after 20 weeks of decrease of cases. However, in the last week, this decrease slowed down.

On Monday, 1,138 new infections and 39 deaths were recorded. Argentina has had more than 5.2 million cases and almost 116,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

A total of 34.5 million people (76.4% of the Argentine population) have already received their first dose of vaccine. Of these, 26 million (57.7%) have completed the vaccination schedule.