Covid-19: Ecuador to keep land border with Peru closed to prevent entry of Omicron variant

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador has informed that the land border it shares with Peru will remain closed as part of the prevention and control of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and its new variants. This is so even though the Peruvian government has announced the reopening of its land borders.

The statement issued by the institution explains that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador informs that this is a bilateral process and ratifies the decision of the Ecuadorian government to move in that direction, within the framework of dialogue and diplomatic coordination with the brother country of Peru.”

Read also: Check out our coverage on Ecuador

In addition, the Foreign Ministry clarified that the entry protocols for nationals and foreign residents through the land border would remain in force, as well as the new requirements established by the Emergency Operations Committee, which took effect December 1.

The decision of the Ecuadorian government is not new. As part of the measures to prevent the entry of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Ecuadorian authorities have also decided to postpone the reopening of the land border with Colombia, scheduled for December 1.

The opening will now take place only on December 15. Ecuador’s President, Guillermo Lasso, announced the new date on his Twitter account: “We have agreed with President Iván Duque that the reopening of the Colombian-Ecuadorian border will be on Wednesday, December 15, considering the current situation the world is going through and the health of our inhabitants,” he wrote.

Colombian President Iván Duque also responded to his Ecuadorian counterpart: “After the conversation I had with the President of Ecuador, and to strengthen cooperation in health between the two countries, we decided that the date on which the reopening of the border will take place will be from December 15.”

MEASURES AGAINST OMICRON

Faced with the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Ecuadorian authorities have decided to take a series of measures to prevent the arrival of the strain in their country. President Guillermo Lasso addressed the nation in a televised message and informed about the new restrictions, requirements to enter the country, and the limits to be respected, and insisted on vaccination. So far, no case of the variant has been registered in the country.

President Lasso announced that the country would prohibit the entry to the national territory to any person whose point of origin, stopover, or transit is South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and Namibia.

Travelers coming from other countries of the world, both nationals and foreigners, must present their complete vaccination certificate upon entering Ecuador and RT-PCR test with at least 72 hours of validity.

In addition, children and adolescents between 2 and 16 must present a negative result of the real-time RT-PCR test performed up to 72 hours before boarding the country.

If a passenger presents symptoms and is considered a “suspect case”, an RT-PCR test will be performed and, if positive, the person will be placed in isolation for 14 days. All these measures will take effect as of December 1.

Regarding other measures, the President announced that the maximum capacity in massive events would be 50%. Likewise, he recommended to the authorities of the municipalities to impose a 50% capacity in open and closed places with ventilation, in addition to a minimum social distance of at least 1.5 meters.

In public transport, 100 % capacity will be allowed if the following conditions are met: there must be natural ventilation, and face masks will be mandatory.

To enter any public sector building, said President Lasso, “the presentation of complete vaccination certificates will be mandatory”. The head of state urged that cinemas, theaters, bars, discotheques, stadiums, shopping malls, or similar also impose the presentation of the vaccination card with the complete scheme for the entry of their customers.

Despite the new measures, Lasso was emphatic about vaccination. “There are vaccines for everyone,” said the President; at the same time, he recalled that around 70% of the country’s population already has the complete anti-virus vaccination schedule.

“It is one of the highest percentages in the world,” emphasized the President. Lasso asked people who had already received the two vaccine doses six months ago to go to the vaccination centers to receive the third booster dose. He also urged those who have not been vaccinated to get immunized.