Some 400 French people stranded in Peru for three weeks following the closure of the borders were repatriated on Thursday, bringing the total number from that country to 1,300, the French embassy announced.
These French nationals took off from Lima Thursday evening on an Air France airline plane, bound for Paris. German, Danish, Spanish and Belgian nationals are also on the trip. "A total of 1,300 French people have been repatriated so far, thanks to five flights since March 22," French ambassador to Lima Antoine Grassin told AFP.
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Another 600 French people on the spot who don't want to leave
The majority of these French people are tourists surprised by the closure of the borders decreed by the authorities in the context of the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. "There are still 600 French, but they do not want to leave, a small group that prefers to wait until the end of the state of emergency scheduled for April 26," added Antoine Grassin.
France will still organize at least one return flight for its nationals, which should arrive in Lima in the coming days. The United States has also scheduled a repatriation flight by the end of the week. Some 10,000 foreign nationals, including 6,500 Americans and 2,400 Canadians, were transported out of Peru by their respective countries. Belgians, Dutch, Germans, Mexicans and Chileans are the other nationals repatriated in recent weeks.
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Peru has repatriated more than 6,000 of its nationals from Europe, the United States and Canada. This Andean country has recorded 5,256 cases and 138 deaths since the start of the coronavirus epidemic on March 6.