Colombia. The Ministry of Health of Colombia issued Resolution 777 of 2021, by which it establishes the protocols for the social, economic and cultural reactivation as of June 8, which includes the guidelines for the reactivation of live events.
"This changes all the measures in an important way that had been executed so far," said Minister Fernando Ruiz Gómez, adding that among the main modifications is the elimination of the CoronApp requirement for domestic flights.
In this regard, he pointed out that as air traffic has been increasing, it has been observed that the lines of the airports become a mechanism of agglomeration, so that the benefit of Coronapp was reduced. At the same time, at airports the option of requesting PCR test for entry into the country is eliminated.
Mass events
Additionally, this new resolution also addresses the occupancy of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds. "As long as a municipality is above 85%, all restrictive measures are maintained, especially in what has to do with bars, nightclubs, events and agglomerations," explained the minister.
He added that when a municipality drops below that 85% of ICU occupancy, opening possibilities are generated with capacity adjusted to the progress of the National Vaccination Plan. "A city lower than such a percentage, can start with 25% capacity for open public events, even in closed events recommendations are generated where the minimum distance can be one meter, which increases the capacity," he said, indicating that this benefits places of worship, gyms, etc.
For such scenarios there are special measures such as the use of masks, which is reinforced in the new regulations, ventilation, washing and disinfection of hands, the new minimum distance between people and indications for self-care.
Ruiz also pointed out that in the case of the match of the Colombia Football Team next Tuesday, the conditions are given to have an audience starting from a 25% capacity. "Barranquilla is a city that has already decreased in affectation," said the minister, adding that the new administrative act contemplates what is known as a resilience index, to which he indicated that "due to the fact that cities can border on 85% of ICU occupancy, the index takes into account the capacity of health services at the time and vaccination."
He said in front of the above that there are cities that are more advanced in the pandemic, which already have a greater affectation, such as Barranquilla, Leticia or Montería. "So to avoid that coming and going of the 85% that can be given, with the resilience index you can define if a city already has a stable percentage of affectation over time that allows greater capacity forward," said the minister.
A fourth peak
With the new measures, Ruiz made it clear that "this does not mean in any way that the epidemic is over, we are precisely at the hardest moment of the third peak and there is a high probability that we will have a fourth or fifth peak," he warned, noting that as there is greater natural immunity and that progress is made in vaccination, mortality will be significantly reduced.
For the head of the Health Ministry, the social demonstrations and the current agglomerations that are being seen in the country will be triggers for an eventual fourth peak. "The new measures seek to organize us a little more and have a general biosecurity protocol that allows the reactivation of activities as important as education," he said.
In this regard, he indicated that once the complete vaccination of teachers has been achieved, all the conditions will be given so that there is a face-to-face return of classes in schools. "This would be given around July 15," Ruiz said.
