Chile and Bolivia announced this Thursday (1st) to have closed their borders – a measure that will leave Brazil even more isolated in the region.
Bolivian President Luis Arce specifically determined the “temporary closure of the borders with Brazil for 7 days”, as part of “measures to protect the population”. In Chile, the restriction applies to all countries, including air and land borders. , during the month of April.
As a result, among the major neighboring countries, only Paraguay maintains open land borders in Brazil.
Brazil has had its worst month since the start of the pandemic, with 66,000 deaths in March. After the United States (552 thousand deaths), it is the country that has recorded the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 (321,515), followed by Mexico (203,210).
Through Twitter, the Bolivian leader informed that there will be isolation rules in municipalities near the border with Brazil where the circulation of new variants of the coronavirus is detected. “The isolation will be coordinated with the self-governing territorial entities, establishing controls to mitigate the virus for as long as necessary.” Arce did not say whether the air borders were also closed.
Chile, on the other hand, has announced that it will close its land and air borders throughout April due to the increase in coronavirus cases in the country, according to a statement from the Under Secretary for Prevention. of crime, Katherine Martorell. The measure comes into force next Monday (5) and is valid for all countries. Previously, travelers could enter if arriving by plane, including those from Brazil, provided they presented a PCR test upon boarding and repeated the exam on Chilean soil.
The country has passed one million cases and recorded 23,328 deaths since the first case, detected on March 3, 2020. “We urgently need an extra effort as we are at a very critical time in the pandemic,” said government spokesperson, Jaime Bellolio. Chilean health officials have already detected the presence of the Brazilian and British variants of the coronavirus.
The increase in contagion in Chile is occurring alongside the rapid advance of vaccination, which has already reached 7 million people with at least one dose.
To date, 24% of the population has completed the two doses necessary to achieve immunity. In Brazil, only 3.2% were vaccinated with both doses.
Peru and Argentina had already closed borders to travelers from Brazil. In Lima, nearly half of new cases of Covid-19 come from the new variant, P1, first identified in Manaus in 2020. In Argentina, flights from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, in addition from the UK were suspended last week. United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.