So far, there are no new restrictions in El Salvador apart from the ban on flights from the UK and South Africa.
The new strain of the coronavirus that mainly affects England has raised global alarm in light of a new potential wave of infections. The variant that this new species spreads faster has even led to several countries restricting the access of people from that European country.
Health Minister Francisco Alabí confirmed on Monday that the increase in daily infections is due to the agglutinations taking place in various municipalities for holidays, Christmas shopping and the end of the year.
With the new strain of the virus, any infected person could pass the virus on to 10 others, the minister said.
Faced with such a health panorama, the official said during the television interview on Channel 21 on Tuesday that “he would not want the population to experience the situation that has already been experienced.”
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In this sense, the official warned that if the number of cases increases or there is a risk of the new tribe entering, the closure of El Salvador’s airport “could be one of the tools to contain infections”.
“If we manage to delay the arrival of a new strain of coronavirus in time, measures can be taken to prevent the especially vulnerable population from being affected”, the minister claimed.
At the moment, El Salvador has banned the entry of people whose escape route has included the United Kingdom or South Africa for the past 30 days, as announced by the government last Sunday.
Likewise, the Salvadoran government has recommended all Salvadorans who are in Europe who plan to enter the country in the coming weeks to speed up their process.
“Salvadorans in Europe who wish to return to El Salvador in the coming weeks are advised to speed up their itineraries as soon as possible before new restrictions are imposed by the new form of coronavirus,” said President Bukele.
Measures contrary to the constitution
Without underestimating the dangers posed by a new variant of COVID-19, two prominent constitutional lawyers reminded Nayib Bukele’s government that the constitution forbids the entry of Salvadorans. The same was already banned by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court in a ruling last September.
Minister of Health: With the new strain, any infected person can pass the virus on to 10 others
Lawyers Rubén Zamora and Enrique Anaya have no hesitation in pointing out that President Bukele cannot ultimately leave Salvadorans coming from Europe stranded abroad, so they recommend seeking other legal health mechanisms.
Article 5 says that “no Salvadoran may be expatriated, nor will they be banned from entering the territory of the Republic, nor will they be denied a return passport or other identification documents.
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