Covid-19: Court suspends quarantine requirement for travelers at Brazil’s Guarulhos airport

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Judge Antonio Cedenho of the Federal Court of Appeals (TRF-3) has suspended the quarantine requirement for passengers entering Brazil through Guarulhos International Airport, in the state of São Paulo, the largest in Brazil.

The requirement had been ordered on August 13 by Judge Alexey Pere, from the 2nd Federal District Court of Guarulhos, at the request of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the lower court decision, anyone who passed through the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and India 14 days before landing in Brazil was required to undergo quarantine in Guarulhos and was prevented from taking connecting flights to another destination. The measure was designed to prevent the spread of the Delta variant.

With this requirement, travelers were forced to stay in or around the airport city to comply with the quarantine period. On August 20 the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) appealed the decision by the federal judge, pointing out problems.

“The measure imposed by the injunction is completely ineffective, even if implemented by ANVISA, unless accompanied by a set of other measures that can ensure the dignified compliance with quarantine at the place of landing and other measures to restrict locomotion by the other modes,” the agency argued.

The appellate court judge accepted the agency’s arguments. “The decision makes it impossible for passengers to proceed to their accommodation by collective air transport in order to comply with quarantine, thereby affecting the traveler who has no accommodation plan and increasing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at airports,” he pondered in his decision.

With the decision overturned, the rules of Ordinance 655, dated June 23, 2021, will remain in force. The rule establishes the obligation for foreigners entering the country by plane to present a negative laboratory test (RT-PCR) up to 72 hours before boarding.

According to the ordinance’s Article 7, paragraph 5, passengers flying from the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, South Africa and India or who have passed through these countries in the past 14 days are temporarily prevented from boarding flights to Brazil.

This ban is not applicable to some types of travelers from these countries, such as native or naturalized Brazilians, immigrants with permanent residence, foreign professionals working for an international organization or accredited with the federal government, and foreigners in certain circumstances.

In this case, travelers landing in Brazil must undergo a 14-day quarantine, although it does not necessarily have to be in or around the airport city.