Ecuador rules out confinement at Christmas parties for omicron variant and will require vaccination card

Ecuador ruled out a confinement of the population during the December festivities after the detection of the omicron variant of coronavirus, but will require the presentation of the vaccination card in crowded places, authorities reported Tuesday.

“There will be no confinement (…) These parties do not want to damage them, they are family parties but keep social distance, wear a mask all the time, wash your hands frequently, use alcohol”, expressed the president Guillermo Lasso in a dialogue with journalists.

Added that “In shopping centers, in public places, the vaccination card will be required as a collective protection mechanism for all Ecuadorians.”

Juan Zapata, director of the National Emergency Operations Committee, explained at a press conference that this measure will be in force from December 23 and will last until January 23, prior to an evaluation by the health authorities. The obligation to present the certificate applies to people over 12 years of age.

Of the 17.7 million inhabitants of Ecuador, 69% of the population has the complete anticovid immunization scheme. Since December, when the booster doses began, some 800,000 people have accessed it, according to official figures.

“We have to be careful around the Christmas and New Years parties. Let’s have family reunions but not huge ones ”, Lasso asked.

For her part, the Minister of Health Ximena Garzón indicated that the capacity will be reduced to 50% in restaurants, shopping centers, food courts, cinemas and gyms. He also urged municipalities to suspend activities in bars, brothels and convention centers for corporate entertainments.

Ecuador reports 537,220 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 33,614 deaths from the disease, which was first detected in the country in February 2020.

The city with the most infections is the capital, Quito (184,440), followed by the port of Guayaquil (51,741) which, after detecting the omicron variant, decided to require the presentation of the vaccination card or the negative result of a PCR test to enter hotels , mass events, cinemas and theaters.

In a week, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health has detected 22 cases of the omicron variant. Most are in Guayaquil (southwest), one of the first sources of infection in Latin America and where the health and funeral systems collapsed, leaving even deaths in the streets during the worst of the pandemic.

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