Brazilian officials announced Thursday a new requirement of a five-day quarantine for unvaccinated international travelers that fly into the country, set to take effect on Saturday.
Antonio Barra Torres, Brazil’s top health official, told the Associated Press that the new policy will “mean discouragement of anti-vaccine tourism to Brazil.”
Brazil has suffered the second most deaths from COVID at over 616,000, only behind the United States, which currently sits just under 800,000.
The pandemic had slowed in recent months in the Latin American country, with nearly 1,400 deaths per week in the last month, down from a high of over 20,000 per week in April.
The new measure will require travelers to quarantine for five days upon arrival in the city they’re staying, in addition to the previous measures of submitting a negative PCR test before departing the country they’re in and filing a declaration with the country’s health regulator of their intentions to enter Brazil.
Following the quarantine, a second test must come back negative and a check-in with the local health agency will have to be completed before the person can be in public spaces.
It is not clear how well authorities will be able to track the required quarantines, or how they might enforce the measures.
The decision from the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is reportedly not vaccinated, comes as cases of the newly detected Omicron variant are appearing across the globe, including in Brazil.
Medical professionals continue to work to determine what level of threat the new variant poses compared to the current Delta variant that is currently responsible for the majority of COVID cases.
Torres told the AP the quarantine “is a deterrent and educational measure.”
Andre Penner/Associated Press
The decision issued by the ministries of health, justice, infrastructure and the government’s chief of staff was published in the nation’s official gazette Thursday.
Many of Brazil’s major cities, including Rio de Janeiro, have either cancelled or scaled back their New Year’s Eve festivities due to fears of a new spread of the virus.
Rio’s fireworks show on Copacabana beach is a major tourism draw, and Mayor Eduardo Paes said Thursday that it will take place as expected. The fireworks will be placed in 10 boats for a 16-minute-display.
“Of course there will be a gathering (for the fireworks),” Paes said at a news conference. “Gatherings are not prohibited in Rio de Janeiro.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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