Fear of aggressive strain: Argentina to “drastically” reduce frequency of air travel from Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina will further restrict flights from Brazil due to the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The Argentine government decided after a meeting on Tuesday, March 23rd,  to “drastically” reduce the frequency of air travel between the two countries.

According to Argentine press, the measure would be effective at the weekend and should extend at least until Easter Week – that is, seven days later.

Another decision taken by the Casa Rosada is to oblige everyone arriving in Argentina to present a PCR test with a negative result for SARS-Cov-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. The measure includes even Argentines, who would be required to pay for the procedure. In addition, everyone will have to comply with quarantine. According to the newspaper “Clarín”, there are currently about 27,000 Argentines abroad.

The intention of the Argentine government would be to discourage tourism during this critical time of the pandemic. The national director of Migration, Florencia Carignano, told the local press that people should not travel abroad for the time being.

“We have to be clear, at the risk of appearing unsympathetic, but this is preferable to lamenting the consequences: this is not the time to leave the country for tourism,” she reinforced.

The decision was made on the day Brazil passed, for the first time, the mark of 3,000 deaths reached in just one day – at the most serious moment of the pandemic. Despite still being within the health crisis, Argentina is experiencing stability in the numbers for the time being, with a moving average of 126 deaths per day on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

However, Argentina’s Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, said last Friday, March 19th, that there is a possibility that in the coming weeks the country will be as well immersed in a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: G1