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Corona vaccination in Asuncion
Photo: Jorge Saenz/AP
In the past two years of the pandemic, Paraguay has become a popular emigration country for those opposed to vaccination.
Now the South American country is closing: In view of the increasing number of infections with the corona virus, the unvaccinated are no longer allowed to enter the country.
More than a dozen foreigners who were not fully vaccinated were turned away upon arrival and sent back to their home countries, Immigration Director María de los Ángeles Arriola said on ABC radio.
Among them were six Germans.
Since last week, people entering Paraguay have had to show proof of vaccination with at least two doses.
Even before that, the mask-wearing law was considered one of the strictest in South America.
Recently, however, numerous opponents of vaccination and deniers of the pandemic - especially from German-speaking countries - had emigrated to the South American country.
Many videos are circulating on social networks in which people who do not want to be vaccinated against the corona virus are advised to restart in Paraguay.
Conspiracy stories are often conveyed in these posts.
In total, more than a thousand Germans came to Paraguay last year alone, as reported by Deutsche Welle;
not all of them can be assigned to the "lateral thinking" scene.
However, there are also many »Reichsbürger« among them.
Even before the corona pandemic, more and more right-wing extremists had settled in Paraguay, as reported by Deutsche Welle.
Most recently, the number of infections in Paraguay had skyrocketed.
So far, over 500,000 people have been infected with the corona virus in the South American country, and almost 17,000 patients have died in connection with Covid-19.
About 42 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
mrc/dpa
