Government announces five-day quarantine for unvaccinated travelers

The federal government announced this Tuesday (7) that it will require a five-day quarantine for travelers not vaccinated against covid-19 who land in Brazil. In a ceremony at the Planalto Palace, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, explained that, after the defined quarantine period, travelers must undergo an RT-PCR test with a negative result.

According to the minister, around 80% of the Brazilian population over 14 years of age is already immunized with two doses of the vaccine. The number represents more than 175 million inhabitants. He also highlighted that the country managed to “strongly reduce” the number of cases and deaths caused by covid-19 – in the last six months, the drop was around 90%.

Vaccine passport

About the possibility of requiring a vaccination certificate for travelers who want to enter the country, recommended by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Queiroga assessed that the fight against the pandemic is not just about "a so-called passport that is more discord than consensus creates”.

“Lately, the world has become very concerned about a new variant of the virus. These variants can happen anywhere in the world. Countries that identify these variants cannot be punished by restricting their citizens.”

“It is necessary to defend individual freedoms, respect the rights of Brazilians to freely access public health policies”, he said. “This theme involves Brazil's foreign relations and Brazil is a very recognized country precisely for using the principle of reciprocity”, he added.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.