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By court order, the resolution that eliminated the requirement of a negative PCR test for travelers to enter the country, was left without a floor. Now, the National Government would have to re-implement this requirement so that travelers can enter the national territory.
By order of a Bogotá circuit judge, the National Government will once again have to demand the PCR test for COVID-19, with a negative result, so that travelers who are destined for Colombia can enter the country. The decision to eliminate this requirement for those who intended to enter the national territory from abroad, which was known on November 4 (resolution 1972), generated a strong controversy among public opinion.
Among those who completely disagreed with the elimination of this requirement, was the lawyer Alberto Elías González Mebarak who filed a protection action against the Ministry of Health alleging the protection of their fundamental rights to life and health that, in his consideration , would be affected by the elimination of this requirement, without the country still exceeding the peak of infections. (Also read: Epidemiologists support eliminating PCR tests for travelers, despite criticism from Claudia López)
“It is evidenced that the negligence of the State expressed in the suppression of the requirement for international travelers to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test for entry to the country, exposes the health and life of the general population, which without place It will undoubtedly lead to the occurrence of irreparable damage, translated into the increase in the mortality of Colombians due to the Coronavirus, increasing the already scandalous figure of more than 32 thousand deaths that the pandemic has claimed, in a panorama of overcrowding of ICU beds at the national level ”, indicated the plaintiff.
The popular action reached the eleventh administrative office of orality of the Bogotá circuit, which in its decision agreed with the jurist. “Although it is true that the PCR test is not a 100% efficient mitigation measure, nor are the other measures taken by the national government and territorial entities, it is configured as a measure and as a filter that leads to a fence epidemiological and prevent people who may have the virus from entering the country, being close to new outbreaks taking into account social interaction, the number of internal trips, among others, “said the office.
He also warned that there is no monitoring capacity, not to mention the “precarious” conditions in which the medical personnel of the Colombian health system work, which, in his opinion, goes against the provisions of the WHO and the PAHO, stating that the existence of public health capacity is fundamentally required. Consequently, he said, care measures and filters must remain to avoid contagion.
“For the dispatch, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection puts the life and health of the Colombian population at risk by not requiring the PCR-COVID-19 NEGATIVE test as a requirement for travelers who enter the country by air, for Therefore, for this constitutional judge, it is necessary to protect these rights, in order to safeguard the people who live or transit through the country, ”said judge Giovanni Humberto Legro.
In this sense, the togado ordered the immediate suspension of the modification made in resolution 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, instead, established that a certificate of the PCR test with a negative result, for the COVID-19 virus, is required as a requirement of entry to the country, to each of the travelers who enter by air.
In addition, he also urged that even with the negative test, the quarantine or preventive isolation must be fulfilled for a period of 14 days in the place of housing or accommodation planned in advance by each traveler. With this ruling, the Ministry of Health has no choice but to demand the certificate of a PCR test with a negative result from all people who want to enter the national territory by air. However, the decision may be challenged by the Government, which has not yet ruled on it. (It may interest you: No new restrictions have been implemented for the entry of travelers to Colombia)
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