BOGOTA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's Ministry of Health and Social Protection on Thursday unveiled updated rules for travelers on national and international flights amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new rules, which take effect on April 7, relax or scrap certain measures while introducing new ones.
For example, there will be no more temperature taking at air terminals, since evidence now shows it is not an imperative measure, according to the ministry's director of epidemiology and demography, Julian Fernandez.
"Some recommendations that are already obsolete or have little scientific evidence (to back them up) are updated, such as those that have to do with restrictions on aircraft entertainment systems, since if they are properly disinfected they do not represent a greater risk" to users, said Fernandez.
Due to the circulation of new variants of the virus, all arriving Colombian or foreign travelers must now present a negative PCR test taken in the last 96 hours.
"Given the emergence of the new variants and the contact with people of different origins in closed spaces, which despite the ventilation of the airplanes, forces us to take extreme measures," said Fernandez.
He also encouraged travelers to use two applications developed to orient travelers: CoronApp for domestic flights and Check-Mig for international flights.
"The reason we believe CoronApp is effective is because it now connects to COVID-19 sample results and reveals whether people have tested positive in the past 14 days," Fernandez said.
On flights of more than two hours, passengers will only be able to eat at intervals assigned by rows and everyone should wear a face mask, he added.
According to the Ministry of Health, as of Wednesday Colombia registered 2,406,377 cases of COVID-19 and 63,422 deaths as a result of the disease. Enditem
