With France’s announcement of restrictions on travelers from Brazil on Tuesday (13), the country is adding entry barriers imposed in an attempt to contain the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic – in particular the Brazilian variant of the virus – in at least 22 countries, according to a survey based on IATA (International Air Transport Association) data.
Data updated until Wednesday (14) relates only to countries that have adopted specific measures against Brazil. Thus, countries like China, for example, which have more generally closed their borders, are excluded from the survey.
People who stayed in Brazil for a period of 14 days prior to travel cannot enter Saudi Arabia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Oman, San Marino, and the Vatican. In the UK, the safety margin is 10 days, but travelers must agree to be quarantined on UK soil for 11 nights.
In Germany, those who have been to Brazil can only enter if they turn out to be among some of the few exceptions to the rules, such as being a family member of a German citizen, for example. Even neighboring Argentina has closed its doors until the end of the month at least to anyone leaving Brazil.
In Austria, according to Iata, flights from Brazil and South Africa are suspended at least until next Sunday (18), when the restrictions in Bangladesh and Peru also expire. Monday (19), the barrier imposed by France and, the next day, that of Pakistan should also fall.
COUNTRIES IMPROVING BARRIERS IN BRAZIL
Germany Saudi Arabia Argentina Austria Bangladesh Vatican City Colombia Spain United States France Netherlands Iran Italy Japan Morocco Oman Pakistan Peru United Kingdom San Marino Saint Martin Turkey
The main fear of these countries is the greater potential for contagion and lethality of Brazilian variants of the coronavirus. These are the P.1, originating in Manaus and already dominant in at least six Brazilian states outside the Amazonas, and the P.2, widely distributed in Brazil and identified for the first time in Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to Brazilian strains, variants of the coronavirus have also been identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States. In general, according to the scientific knowledge accumulated so far, these new versions of the coronavirus tend to be more transmissible and appear as a consequence of the uncontrolled pandemic and the high movement of people – case of Brazil.
The more the virus circulates, the greater the risk of mutations, some of which facilitate the entry of the virus into cells or prevent the action of neutralizing antibodies.
So, although most of the countries that have imposed restrictions on Brazil have higher transmission rates than Brazil, the measures are justified by fears that the variants will worsen the health crisis, overload health systems and increase the number. of deceased.
The transmission rate, also called “R”, indicates how many people, on average, each infected person transmits the virus; when it is greater than 1, it means that the speed of contagion increases.
Among the 22 countries analyzed, Iran is the one with the highest index (1.43), according to data compiled by the portal Our World in Data. This means that every 100 infected with the coronavirus in Iran infects 143 more, which in turn infect 204 more, who infect 292 and so on, spreading the disease more and more rapidly.
Brazil’s rate is 1.01 – the fifth lowest on the list – which means, according to the index, that transmission is slower, but still gradual. With R less than 1, in the countries of the list, there is only San Marino (0.96), the United Kingdom (0.93), Austria (0.91) and Italy (0.81).