“To prevent the spread of the new [coronavirus] strain found in Brazil, the Colombian Ministry of Health and I have decided to suspend flights to and from Brazil for a month starting from Friday. Those who arrived from the country between January 18 and 27 must undergo a 14-day self-isolation,” Duque tweeted late Wednesday.
The president added that only passenger, not freight, flights would be suspended.
Air traffic with Brazil is currently suspended by the United States, Peru, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria and Turkey.
The B.1.1.28.1 strain of the COVID-19 coronavirus was detected in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro in late December 2020.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, over 100.7 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.17 million fatalities, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Brazil is third in terms of the number of confirmed cases, following the United States and India, and has registered more than 8.9 million COVID-19 patients, with over 218,000 fatalities, JHU says.
Colombia has recorded over 2 million coronavirus cases and more than 52,000 deaths, according to JHU.
