The new variant of the coronavirus called omicron continues to appear in more countries, so governments in various regions, including Latin America, are taking action.
Chile's health authorities announced this Monday that they will ban non-resident foreigners from seven southern African countries as of December 1 as a precaution.
The Government of Argentina established a mandatory quarantine for anyone who has been in Africa in the 14 days prior to entering the South American country - in addition, they must have a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before entering Argentina and perform an antigen test. upon arrival in the country, while it will maintain the suspension of direct flights from that continent to reinforce epidemiological surveillance before the appearance of the new omicron variant.
While Brazil, which is achieving low averages of infections, is on alert for the new variant, of which its potential and resistance against vaccines is unknown, and on Saturday it expanded to ten the list of African nations with restrictions for its travelers.
Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia joined South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) are on the list of countries with closed air borders with Brazil.
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo asked those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so because it is "the smart thing to do," especially when a new risk variant of the coronavirus has been identified and detected in several countries around the world.
The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, announced that Cortizo will be proposed to restrict the entry into the country of travelers from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini or Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi.
This occurs when there are also countries in the region with an increase in cases. Ten provinces of Peru entered a high alert level this Monday in the face of the increase in cases, as part of the extension of the state of national health emergency, which has been extended until December 31.
This, while Spain reported on Monday the first case of omicron variant, detected by the microbiology service of the Gregorio Marañón hospital in Madrid.
The patient, who is in isolation while in quarantine, returned from South Africa last Sunday with a stopover in Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, considered this Monday that the new variant of COVID-19, called omicron, "is cause for concern, but not for panic," for which he assured that experts do not consider that "additional measures" are necessary in the country.
This was indicated by Biden in an intervention from the White House accompanied by the chief epidemiologist of the US Government, Antony Fauci, who admitted last Saturday that it is possible that the new variant has already reached the United States, but has not yet been detected.
