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| Photo: Chanda Khanna / AFP |
Peru extended the suspension of flights from Brazil, South Africa and India until June 30 to prevent the entry of new forms of the coronavirus, at a time when the country is facing a second deadly wave of the pandemic.
“The entry into the national territory of non-resident foreigners from South Africa, Brazil and India should be suspended until June 30,” said a decree published in the Official Gazette.
According to the decree, “the purpose of the provision is to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in view of the current health emergency”.
Peru has banned flights to and from South Africa in mid-December and from Brazil through January 26, as more contagious new forms of the coronavirus emerge in these countries.
The government assesses whether to suspend or maintain the ban every 15 days.
According to health officials, the expansion seemed inevitable given the troubling rise in cases of the gamma variant that has emerged in Brazil, particularly in the capital Lima.
According to the Ministry of Health, Lima has recorded 40% of such cases in recent months.
Peru and Brazil share a 2,800 km border in the Amazon.
Peru has detected the first case of the delta version of the coronavirus in a woman in the Andean region of Arequipa, the health ministry reported on June 9.
Officials have not given details about the number of cases detected for the alpha and beta variants.
With 10 million residents, Lima is the Peruvian city most affected by COVID. Its hospitals are overcrowded and people line up to buy medical oxygen.
With 33 million residents, Peru has recorded more than 2 million infections and more than 189,000 deaths since the pandemic broke out in March 2020.
