Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
(CNN Spanish) -
Health authorities in El Salvador are on the trail of 58 passengers and the crew who on Thursday traveled on a Spirit Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, to San Salvador, because a person on board had a positive PCR test for covid-19.
The irregularity was detected by migration personnel at the San Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, the Director General of Migration of El Salvador, Ricardo Cucalón, reported on Twitter.
MIRA: Former President Antonio Saca and his wife must return more than US $ 4.4 million to El Salvador, according to a court ruling
The passenger, of Honduran nationality, has medical care in El Salvador after receiving a "restricted entry permit for humanitarian reasons," the Salvadoran government's Directorate of Migration and Foreigners explained in a statement this Friday.
One of the requirements established by the government of El Salvador for a person to enter Salvadoran territory is to present a negative test for covid-19 issued with a validity of 72 hours from its delivery.
That document, according to the government, must be required by the airline and, if the result is positive, it must not allow the person to board the aircraft.
advertising
Spirit airline, for its part, told CNN that it is investigating how the passenger was able to board the plane "despite passing the review process" and that it will take the appropriate measures, stating that they implement a protocol to meet the requirements demanded by each country to which they travel.
However, Cucalón explained that the corresponding sanctioning process against the airline will begin.
MORE: Homicides decrease in El Salvador in 2020
The penalty for failing to comply with this requirement consists of a US $ 5,000 fine for each passenger, according to the government reported last September, when it reopened the airport for international flights, after six months of being closed as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
The measure is part of the requirements established by the government of El Salvador to try to contain covid-19, which since the end of December has experienced an increase in cases, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
As of Friday, El Salvador reported 48,574 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,408 people died from causes related to the virus.
covid-19