The Jair Bolsonaro government decided this Friday (26) to prohibit the entry into Brazil of those who have been, in the last 14 days, in six African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland (Eswatini), Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The idea is to prevent the spread in Brazil of a new, potentially more transmissible variant of Covid-19, B.1.1.529, named omicron by the WHO (World Health Organization).
According to Minister Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil), the ordinance with the measure will be published this Saturday (27) and will take effect from Monday (29).
“Brazil will close the air borders to six African countries due to the new variant of the coronavirus. We will protect Brazilians in this new phase of the pandemic,” he wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, to supporters in front of the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília, Bolsonaro said that a new wave of the coronavirus is on the way, but he had ruled out closing air borders.
Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) does not propose closing borders either, but defends charging for the vaccine. Today’s decision was punctual, due to the appearance of the new variant, but a broader closure is not on the radar.
For the president, it would be ineffective to prevent the arrival of international flights and he repeated that it is necessary to live with Covid. “You will not seal [a entrada do vírus], boy. What is this madness? I mean, the airport closed, the virus doesn’t enter? The virus is already in here,” said the president.
In Rio de Janeiro, later, Bolsonaro advocated the adoption of “rational measures” to contain the arrival of the omicron variant. He ruled out a new lockdown in addition to border closure.
“Brazil can no longer stand a lockdown. I spoke with Admiral Barra Torres [presidente da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária], with Ciro, from the Civil House, discussing Argentina. Whoever comes here from Argentina by car, no problem. Anyone arriving by plane must be quarantined for four days. Let’s take rational measures,” he said.
The new restrictions announced hours later had already been proposed, earlier, by Anvisa, which also defends the requirement of a Covid-19 vaccination certificate for those who enter Brazil through land borders and international flights.
The government, however, did not deliberate on this request from the regulatory agency at this Friday’s meeting at Palácio do Planalto.
According to interlocutors from Saúde and Planalto, who were at the meeting, the matter should be discussed next week, but they admit that it is unlikely that the regulatory agency’s request will be met.
The meeting was called on an emergency basis, because of the new strain, and only the technical teams participated. Ministers Ciro Nogueira (Casa Civil), who made the announcement, Marcelo Queiroga (Health) and Anderson Torres (Justice), who signed the decree together, did not participate in the meeting.
The request to establish the “vaccine passport” was presented by Anvisa on the 12th to the Palácio do Planalto, as revealed by sheet, but collides with the negationist banners of Bolsonaro and his allies. The president has already said publicly that he has not yet been vaccinated.
In the note to defend the veto of travelers, Anvisa said that there are no direct flights from these six countries, so the measure should impact those who stopped in the region in the 14 days prior to the trip to Brazil.
The government has also determined that passengers who fall within exceptions to the border restrictions ordinance, such as members of the diplomatic corps, must be quarantined when disembarking in Brazil, if they have passed through countries registered with the omicron.
In a technical note, Anvisa states that countries like Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom have already adopted measures to restrict the transit of travelers from regions with registration of the new variant.
The WHO classified the new strain as a “concerning variant” because of the potential risk of being more transmissible than the old ones. Even before this evaluation, the large number of mutations in the variant generated a great wave of attention in several countries around the world.
It is still early to have scientific evidence of its effects on contagion, disease severity or vaccine effectiveness, but governments preferred to stay ahead as task forces of scientists work “24 hours a day” to understand it.
The Ministry of Health issued a warning to state departments about the new variant. According to the document, until this Friday, no case of Covid in Brazil caused by this strain has yet been identified.
The document in the folder was directed to the CIEVS (Strategic Information Center for Health Surveillance) network, which brings together the country’s surveillance system.
The text directs networks to immediately notify the folder when there are suspected or confirmed cases of the new variant.
In suspected cases of travelers from countries with the strain in circulation, the person must be monitored for 14 days when they present symptoms of the disease and for seven days if they are asymptomatic.
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