Government will take three days to pronounce on the ruling of protection on the PCR for travelers

The National Government decided to wait until next Tuesday, the day on which the term of the guardianship ruling expires, to publicize the measures that arise from the court order and argued that all operations at the airports will continue to develop as they have done to this day.

On the afternoon of this Thursday, it was known that a judge in Bogotá ordered the National Government to demand the negative PCR test from anyone who wanted to enter the country. For Andrés Uribe, manager of IATA Colombia, the union that represents airlines in Colombia, the judge’s decision is worrying.

In dialogue with the Blu Radio station, Uribe assured that the worrying thing is that “A judge and a guardianship is capable of overthrowing a decision made by the Ministry of Health with all the scientific, medical and technical elements”. According to the director of the union, the decision of the health portfolio was justified because Requesting a negative test does not guarantee that no infected person will come on the plane heading to Colombia.

He also told the morning newscast that, although the order was known yesterday afternoon, from the airlines “We are waiting for clarification, the guardianship has immediate effect, but the Ministry of Health must issue an administrative act.”

Uribe also maintained that they do not know how this order will work now., since previously the PCR test was requested before entering the plane, which is the most recommended by experts. However, this could change if so ordered by the Ministry of Health in a new resolution, which as IATA director he requests soon.

Why is a negative PCR test requested again in Colombia?

A citizen filed a tutela before the Eleventh Municipal Civil Court of Bogotá in which it demanded that the National Government again demand the negative test of covid-19 to travelers arriving from abroad to Colombia.

It should be remembered that, on November 4, the Ministry of Health modified the biosecurity protocol for the management and control of the risk of coronavirus in air transport and, incidentally, eliminated the requirement of negative PCR testing 96 hours in advance for passengers entering the country.

This Thursday the ruling in favor of the interposed guardianship was known, and the Eleventh Administrative Court of Orality of the Bogotá Circuit ordered the National Government re-require proof for travelers entering from abroad.

“Order the immediate suspension of the modification made in article 1 of Resolution No. 1972 of November 4, 2020, regarding the non-requirement, prior to shipment from the country of origin, of the PCR test with a negative result, issued by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and is required as a requirement to enter the country, a certificate of the PCR test with a NEGATIVE result, for the COVID-19 virus, to each of the travelers who enter by air, likewise, the quarantine is fulfilled or preventive isolation for a period of 14 days in the place of residence or accommodation provided in advance by each traveler “, it reads in the sentence.

Government explains why it stopped requesting PCR tests from passengers arriving in Colombia

Last Thursday, November 5, the Vice Minister of Health, Luis Moscoso, explained that the decision was made under WHO guidelines and other global health organizations.

“The world had an infection rate higher than that of Colombia and that is why it should be closed and there should be restrictions. Today there is a community transmission, just like the other countries (…) The risk that exists in a national flight is the same as an international one, we understand the conditions and when the aeronautical sector was opened, the PCR tests were mounted for international flights “, said the official.

Moscoso assured that, “the tests have some difficulties that are to diagnose the positives but not negatives.”

We found that people can be infected in the first 96 hours, but also when they take the test they can be in an incubation period of 5 to 7 days and they can fly with a false sense of security and arrive in the country with a test that they believe it is protected when in fact it is not.

The deputy minister insisted that, due to these findings, a “A follow-up contact strategy with a call center that already has about 1033 people caring for and protecting international travelers by following up”.

This November 26, Colombia reported 9,496 new cases of infected in the country. Bogotá follows in first place in the number of infected with 2,773, followed by Antioquia with 1,326 and Valle del Cauca in third place with 879.

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