Colombia’s covid-19 sanitary emergency ends on June 30

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A few days ago, the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, announced the end of the sanitary emergency in the country.

It was a temporary measure implemented to face the covid-19 pandemic to guarantee the protection of life, physical integrity, and health of the inhabitants of the national territory, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection at the time.

The Duque government established the health emergency in March 2020, only six days after the first case of covid-19 was confirmed in the national territory.

Although it was said that this was a temporary measure from the beginning, the Government extended the measure on several occasions through decrees.

Finally, after 840 days, the sanitary emergency in Colombia ends this Thursday, June 30, 2022.

“After talking with Minister Fernando Ruiz and the epidemiological committee, we can say that next June 30, the sanitary emergency in Colombia will be lifted. There are no longer epidemiological reasons scientifically analyzed by the committee to maintain the sanitary emergency beyond that date,” said President Duque a few days ago.

With the end of the sanitary emergency, some things change in the country, and some benefits established due to the epidemiological situation will not continue.

With this measure, the health system focused mainly on the attention of the pandemic in Colombia. A few days ago, Fernando Ruiz, Minister of Health, recalled that the Emergency Mitigation Fund (FOME) investment in the health emergency was COP 45 billion (US$11 million).

Of these resources, COP 15 billion was invested in health, including purchasing ventilators and constructing ICUs. Likewise, COP 4.5 billion was for the National Vaccination Plan.

Regarding subsidies, President Iván Duque informed that the Solidarity Income would continue to be delivered during the remainder of this year and 2023; two other subsidies will end with the end of the health emergency declaration.

“Let the Colombian people be certain that we are leaving the resources to close the year 2022 and that they will also have the resources of their Solidarity Income for 2023 if the incoming administration so wishes to continue,” Duque said at the time.

One of the subsidies that will end with this measure is the digital connectivity subsidy, which was granted by the companies so that their workers could work virtually from their homes.

This subsidy replaced the transportation subsidy, one of the obligations companies have with workers who have fixed-term or indefinite-term contracts. In other words, this change will not be felt so much in the pockets of Colombians.

Another benefit that ends this June 30 is the protection for the unemployed. This benefit consisted of a sum of money given to those people who had lost their jobs during the pandemic and had previously made contributions to their family compensation fund for one year.

Like the subsidies mentioned above, another measure that will end is the flexibilization of working hours.

With information from Infobae