“Every passenger whose origin or transit is in India or Brazil must have a negative RT-PCR test result carried out within 72 hours of boarding for Ecuador,” Ximena said at a news conference. Despite testing negative, if they come from these two countries, they will have to self-isolate for 10 days at home or at any place of residence.”
According to officials, this measure will start coming into effect from July 15. Travelers from other countries must have a negative PCR test result or a full calendar vaccination card.
National Committee for Emergency Operations (COE) director Juan Zapata warned that Ecuador would apply for similar requirements in countries that transmit “related strains”, such as deltas, with high numbers of infections and low percentages of vaccinations. “This is done to protect the health of Ecuador,” Zapata said, without specifying which other countries are on the list.
Ecuador, with 17.5 million inhabitants, did not report the presence of the delta variant, which is more contagious and originally found in India. The South American nation records more than 467,000 cases of Covid-19 and 21,803 deaths, between confirmed and probable. 1.6 million people in the country received two doses of the vaccine, while another 1.8 million people received the first dose.
