Minsalud decrees the closure of bars and discos in the country from midnight on November 17

The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, decreed the closure of bars and discos at 12 at night starting next Tuesday, November 17. In addition, he announced in Medellín the curfew and dry law for one day of this holiday bridge that will operate from 2 pm on November 13 to 5 am on November 14.

According to the minister, bars that are located in departments or municipalities with high or moderate COVID-19 affectation must close at 12:00 at night.

Given this, the leaders of the territories with low impact of the pandemic must certify to the National Government that they have the conditions required to allow the bars to operate until later.

The minister met with the mayor of Medellín and the governor of Antioquia to agree on restrictive measures to prevent further contagion of covid-19 in the Antioquia capital. There will be a curfew and prohibition for one day.

The results of these measures will be analyzed by the Ministry of Health to determine if they would be applied again for upcoming holiday bridges.

For their part, the bars and merchants rejected the measure taken by the Minister of Health.

More than a thousand people gathered in the center of Medellín to participate in a symbolic wake organized by the entertainment and tourism sector to reject the curfew and dry law measures imposed by the authorities to reduce the speed of coronavirus infections.

With a couple of coffins on his shoulder, a trumpeter performing a funeral march and a man disguised as death, the black stain spread along one of the main thoroughfares of this city as a protest against the closure of bars and restaurants, among other establishments.

“With this symbolic act, we hope to touch the hearts of the rulers,” businessman Alexis Álvarez, spokesman for the ‘SOS Entertainment and Tourism’ movement, told the Efe agency, who described the new restrictions as “a slaughter to our sector”. the virus.

From owners of bars, restaurants and hotels to DJs, cooks, musicians, banquets, artists and owners of tour operators participated in the sit-in, which was attended by dressed in black and wearing a mask to carry flags and banners with forceful messages and from time to time shouting: “ Let us work! ”.

The restrictive measures, which will govern the weekend, will start on Friday with a dry law from 2:00 p.m. Colombian time and until 5:00 a.m. on Saturday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus by virtue of the match between Colombia and Uruguay for the South American World Cup qualifiers of Qatar 2022.

That same day there will be a curfew from 23.00.

In addition to these decisions, the authorities also established that the bars will operate until midnight starting on Saturday, November 14, throughout the Aburrá Valley, a region of which Medellín and nine other municipalities are part.

“The entertainment and tourism union is slowly dying with the absurd, arbitrary and disproportionate measures of the Government,” Álvarez added.

The spokesperson assured that 40% of the bars, restaurants and nightclubs that existed before the pandemic ceased to exist due to the crisis that caused a closure of more than six months.

During the event, in which mariachis and orchestras also participated with short presentations on an improvised platform located in front of the Parque de Las Luces, some participants alighted on the coffins to symbolize that they are “burying” their businesses.

“When we are taking flight, when we are preparing to reactivate and pay debts, they come back and close us,” lamented the businessman, who saw signs of recovery.

In a statement, the Medellín Convention Bureau revealed that the city’s restaurants had reported 70% of sales, compared to the first half of September 2019.

Sigifredo Gómez, from the tourism operator Sercoltur, told that agency that his union is “badly hit” by the pandemic and that they have not yet been able to stabilize because people “still fear traveling.”

The businessman criticized the position of the authorities because with the restrictions, which had already been applied on Halloween weekend, “we cannot take advantage of the best days for our work.”

“They believe that covid-19 only comes out on weekends,” questioned Gómez, representative of a company dedicated to providing tourist transport services.

He assured that before the pandemic, the operator could receive about 12,000 tourists a month, but currently they barely reach 700.

“So we are not able to continue, we can not stand it anymore,” he said.

According to data from the Medellín Tourism Observatory, during August hotel occupancy in the city of was located at 10.3%, representing a slight increase compared to July, which had reported 8.3% occupancy.

On this occasion, the measures will not only cover Medellín, but the entire Aburrá Valley and the department of Antioquia, which continues on a hospital red alert due to the coronavirus pandemic with an occupancy of 78.04%.

The governor of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria, said today at a press conference that “adequate and pertinent” measures were taken to control the contagion after making an “accurate” diagnosis of the situation.

“The message is to continue being prudent to avoid taking more restrictive measures in the future and in December,” warned the president of that region, who has 189,432 confirmed cases of covid-19.

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