“There is no difference between Madrid, Cundinamarca; or Madrid, Spain ”: Duque insists that Colombia will not ask visitors for PCR tests

The president of the Republic, Iván Duque, defended the decision of the Ministry of Health (MinSalud) not to comply with the ruling of the 11 Administrative Court of Bogotá which asks the government to require a negative PCR test for travelers entering the country and subject them to a 14-day quarantine. Duque explains that the state of the pandemic at the global level and the behavior of Covid-19 in Colombia does not merit taking these measures into account.

“Given the free circulation of the virus, there is no difference between the one that comes from Madrid, Cundinamarca, or Madrid, Spain, and on the other hand, we have a very different behavior of the pandemic than that of other countries, we have 92% recovery and we have carried out a seroprevalence study in several places in the territory. On that a scientific decision is supported. The other thing is that we have protocols that have been validated as serious by multilateral health organizations that guarantee that we can continue a safe reactivation ”, assured the president during his tour of Norte de Santander this weekend.

The president’s statements are based on statements issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which at the beginning of November indicated that requiring this type of testing does not make much sense at this stage of virus transmission. “In international travel, requiring a negative COVID-19 test is not a guarantee of safety,” said Gina Tambini, PAHO representative in Colombia.

The decision of MinSalud and the president has already generated discord. The mayoress of Bogotá, CLaudia López, was one of the first to criticize the government and ensures that the orders of the judges must be carried out and questioned in law. “They ask us Colombians for negative PCR to enter many countries. Our citizens also have the right to this precautionary measure from those who come from abroad. Equity and reciprocity in care, “wrote the president on her Twitter account.

The failure of discord

It all started on November 26 when Judge Giovanni Humberto Legro, of the 11th Administrative Court of Bogotá, issued the ruling after a guardianship filed by the lawyer Alberto Elías González Mebara. At that time for the Ministry of Health the decision was not clear and asked to resolve some concerns raised. “The judgment of guardianship is not yet final. This Monday at four in the afternoon I made a request for clarification to the judge with some questions that seemed very important to me, ”said the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruíz, on Monday, November 30.

This Thursday, December 3, Legro spoke again to answer the concerns of the entity and specified that the proof yes it should be required, at least until three main conditions are met:

1. Initiate distribution and application of a vaccine safe and effective in the country.

2. Covid-19 outbreaks are controlled both in Colombia and in the traveler’s country of origin.

3. The government decrees the termination of the health emergency in the national territory and the epidemiological and biosafety conditions in the population are guaranteed.

Even if the travelers are Colombian they are obliged to present the proof. LThe only exception to this requirement would apply to children under two years of age.

Immediately, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruíz, spoke about the ruling and explained that there is an “impossibility of compliance”. “The impact that the order produces on the strategies that we have adopted throughout the year to face the pandemic and the limitations it generates on the health authority lead us to make this decision,” said Ruiz during the Government’s ‘Prevention and Action’ program National.

The minister added that until the situation is clarified (in legal terms) All travelers will be able to continue entering the country without presenting a PCR test and without complying with the 14-day preventive quarantine.