Uruguay will once again reinforce the entry requirements to its territory in the face of the threat posed by the Delta variant of the new coronavirus, of which no cases have yet been registered in the country, authorities reported this Friday.
From now on, those people vaccinated or who have had the disease in the 90 days prior to entering the country must undergo “a test PCR 72 hours before boarding and then another on the seventh day of the first test, or failing that, save a 14 day isolation”Said the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Salinas, at a press conference.
For those who have not had the disease, on the other hand, “it is not necessary (to do) a quarantine (of seven days) but it is responsible to await the result” of the PCR, he clarified. Those immunized were exempted from measures since May 19.
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Meanwhile, those who do not have a vaccine will continue with the same admission regimen with negative PCR, a seven-day quarantine with a new PCR or isolation of 14 days.
The new measures are “adapting to the theme of the Delta variant“Said Salinas, who called to take” with realism “the scenario of this or other strains that may arise in the future,” because they are going to enter the country in some way. ” “We have to be vigilant, be proactive, but not dramatize the situation,” he said, according to the agency. EFE.
First identified in India, where it began to spread in April, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is present in at least 85 countries and threatens to cause a new global wave of the virus.
Faced with this warning light, in Uruguay once again the concern is centered on the dry border with Brazil, in particular at the crossing of the Rivera-Santana do Livramento cities, where a high number of refugees also enter.
In this context, “it is very important to have established a refugee center” in that area, the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, said at the conference.
“Uruguay has an agreement with UNHCR, it is a friendly country for refugees, most of them undocumented and without a peso in their pocket. This has increased in recent times significantly. The route of entry is this dry border ”, he explained.
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These migrants, mostly Venezuelans, Colombians and Cubans who cross all of Brazil and enter Uruguay as refugees within the framework of international agreements, were received in a temporary center that will now be permanent.
In addition to obtaining food, hygiene and health care, they will be swabbed there and, if they are positive, it is where they will have to quarantine.
“And to all those who test positive, they are going to have genomic studies to be sure of what type of strain is the one that generates the positivity to the PCR test “, to reinforce the monitoring and” have safeguards with the Uruguayan population, “Delgado reported.
Likewise, the documentation will be quickly enabled for them to be vaccinated. The authorities in turn reported the arrival in July of 500,000 doses of Pfizer donated by the United States.
Uruguay thus becomes one of the first recipients of the donation of 14 million doses that Washington decided to assign to Latin American countries through the Covax program.
The country of 3.5 million inhabitants that went through the worst moment of the pandemic in April and May with world records of infections and deaths is now experiencing an improvement in numbers thanks to an intense vaccination campaign.
62% of the population has received at least one of the two doses of Pfizer, CoronaVac or Astrazenca and 43% has the complete guideline.
