The Government restricts travel to and from Brazil and will force those who return to pay for the swab

Guido Carelli Lynch

03/23/2021 22:00

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 03/23/2021 10:03 PM

The Government continues to advance measures to tighten border controls and prevent the arrival of the second wave and the circulation of new strains of coronavirus.

Until the weekend, President Alberto Fernández will authorize new restrictions on travel to and from abroad.

There are more than 27,000 Argentines abroad, according to official data. 

At the meeting headed by Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero this afternoon at Casa Rosada with his Transport partner, Mario Meoni;

the chief of staff of the Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti, and the Legal and Technical Secretary Vilma Ibarra agreed measures to discourage travel abroad.

There is a certainty: the Argentines who return to the country will have to pay for the swab and, if they present any symptoms, they will have to be isolated.

In the last DNU that extended the DISPO until April 9, it was agreed to restrict flights from the countries of the region, Europe, Mexico and the United States.

However, official sources admitted that the focus will be on Brazil.

"Work is being done to strongly restrict entry from Brazil with drastic restrictions on the frequency of flights from there," they said in the Executive.

There is doubt and caution about the aggressive Manaus strain, which has already been registered in provinces such as Córdoba.

The Minister of the Interior, Eduardo "Wado" de Pedro did not participate in the meeting because he was in Salta while Vizzotti visited the towns affected by the fires in Lago Puelo.

Fernández closely followed the conversations, but after 7:30 p.m. he left the Casa Rosada to participate in an event with the head of Aysa Malena Galmarini.

He was accompanied by officials of his highest confidence such as the chief adviser Juan Manuel Olmos, the secretary general of the Presidency Julio Vitobello and the secretary of Communication, Juan Pablo Biondi. 

"The most important thing is that the measures will be ready this weekend and that those who return will have to pay for their testing at the airport. There will be follow-up of the quarantine in positive cases and the objective is to restrict flights from Brazil as much as possible." said an official source who was pending the meeting.

The challenge, as recognized in the Executive is to implement the measure "legally, logistically and healthily."

For this reason, in the Executive there are conflicting versions about whether it will be a DNU or a resolution.

During Monday, the Interior Minister held virtual meetings with the governors of the provinces that border other countries.

In the DNU that regulates the DISPO, the President established new regulations to restrict flights to countries considered "risk zones", although there will be no border closures.

Flights to Great Britain are suspended and, in the coming days, the ANAC will determine the number of flights and people that will enter from Europe, the United States, Brazil and Mexico, where the new strains of coronavirus are already circulating.

With this objective, it was established that the frequencies of passenger flights to Mexico and Europe will be reduced by 30 percent, and the same percentage of flights to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Chile will be reduced.

Travel to the United States will also be reduced.

Argentines returning from these destinations must also comply with strict isolation, which must be supervised by the jurisdictions.

Now the epicenter in Brazil, and the number of cases registered in Argentina this Tuesday - more than 9 thousand - while the Government circumvented the shortage of vaccines forced the Executive to further restrict entry to the country.