Coronavirus: Paraguay decreed the complete closure of its borders until Sunday

The Paraguayan government decreed this Tuesday the complete closure of its borders until Sunday to contain the advance of the coronavirus.

“This closure of all borders will be temporary. This bug does not come only by plane, it comes by bus, by pipes, it comes from everywhere “, said Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo, in dialogue with ABC Paraguay.

The airports for all commercial and private flights from abroad will also be closed from this Tuesday. The exception to the restriction is cargo services, in order to guarantee the supply of goods in general, such as food or medical supplies. necessary for the fight against the pandemic, informed the Civil Aeronautics Directorate (Dinac).

Aircraft that provide medical services within the framework of combating coronavirus, such as foreign apparatuses sent to evacuate their nationals, may also disembark at local airports.

“Other aircraft may not land at any of our airports or airfields, a matter that will technically be communicated to all countries and aeronautical authorities, “said the statement from Dinac.

At the request of the Ministry of the Interior, Migrations joined the measure. For this reason, the 13 access ports to the country by land will not allow entry to compatriots, according to what was announced by Ángeles Arriola, director of Migrations: “We will only let certain people through, such as those who come by ambulance, those who need medical treatment and others.”

There are currently 78 Paraguayans stranded in Foz de Iguazú waiting to return to their country. The authorities indicated that these people, like those in other countries, will gradually return from next Sunday: “We will see how to assist them while that day arrives. For the time being they will be staying in a hotel and will be returning on charter flights. ”

“The nationals who are abroad will be contained by the respective embassies and consulates. They will not be abandoned to their fate, “added Arriola.

The health authorities reported on Monday the second death from coronavirus and five new cases, with which the number of infections rises to 27 after the first positive reported 20 days ago.

“I regret to report that we registered a deceased, a patient is still hospitalized,” said the Minister of Health briefly on his Twitter account, Julio Mazzoleni, so the second case would be one of the two people who were in intensive care last weekend.

He added that on the date a total of 89 samples were processed, of which five were positive, four of them from people who have been in France and one in Brazil.

With these new infected, the positive cases in Paraguay rose to 27 after the numbers remained at 22 since last Saturday night.