Quito (AFP)
Ecuador announced Wednesday that it would be mandatory to be tested negative for coronavirus to take an internal flight.
"All passengers taking domestic flights will have to present a test for the Covid-19 with a negative result, carried out in the 72 hours preceding their trip," the ministry of transport said in a statement.
The test will have to be presented as of Friday during the access controls to the boarding area, in a country which for two weeks has allowed national and international flights to resume gradually.
The first flight from the capital Quito to Guayaquil, a major port city that was the epicenter of the pandemic in this Andean country, took place on Monday.
The mayor of Guayaquil, Cynthia Viteri, herself a former patient of Covid-19, was moved Wednesday on Twitter to see that "in the two national flights that landed today in Guayaquil, 15 people tested positive "during tests carried out after their arrival.
"The Ministry of Health has not sent anyone for checks and tests," she said.
Ecuador, a country of 17.5 million inhabitants, on Wednesday exceeded 4,000 coronavirus deaths, for 48,490 cases. In addition, there are 2,702 suspicious deaths, probably linked to the disease.
On Tuesday, the government extended until August 13 the state of emergency in force since March, which allows the executive to order measures such as an 11-hour daily curfew, the mobilization of the armed forces for health missions and the suspension of public liberties.
© 2020 AFP