Bolivia will resume regular flights with the United States and Spain.
Bolivia will resume regular passenger and cargo flights with the United States and Spain as of September 1, in a first step of reopening its air space after five months of quarantine in which there were only some connections for humanitarian reasons.
“We are opening commercial flights, cargo and passenger flights, that is, this is open with countries that have also opened their borders,” said interim Public Works Minister Ivan Arias on Friday during a telematic conference.
Arias said that international flights are enabled “for all people” who want to reach Bolivia, even for visits or tourism, since until now they were only allowed for nationals and residents.
Passengers must comply with a “minimum requirement,” which is the presentation of a negative COVID-19 test of “no more than seven days old,” he said, but Bolivia no longer requires fourteen days of quarantine upon arrival in the country.
The interim minister said that the countries with which the air flow will be enabled immediately are the United States and Spain, while in the next few days meetings will be held with Brazil and Uruguay on the conditions for taking a similar step with them.
With regard to air transport with Colombia and Peru, Arias said that flights will still remain paralyzed, because in both countries restrictions on air transport will remain at least until October.
As of September, Bolivia will relax the quarantine after five months, with a view to reactivating its economic activities.
The new “post-confinement” phase increases the hours from Monday to Friday when it is possible to go out on the streets and drive vehicles, partially lifting the ban to do so on weekends and allowing the reopening of air space to international flights, which so far have been reduced to humanitarian and repatriation flights.
Official records on the new coronavirus in Bolivia show 4,791 deaths and 113,129 confirmed cases since the first ones were detected last March.
The daily report of positives has come down to 1,000, while in previous days it slightly exceeded 2,000, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
By EFE
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