A traveler who entered El Salvador from Houston, United States with a positive result for the coronavirus, was isolated, director of the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners Ricardo Cucalón reported Monday.
Cucalón pointed out in an interview on a local radio station that an airline, whose name was not disclosed, allowed someone to travel to El Salvador with a positive test for coronavirus.
He explained, without specifying the passenger’s date of entry or his nationality, that “ upon identification of the person traveling with a positive COVID-19 test, the corresponding preventive measures were applied and the protocols were immediately activated and he moved to an area of isolation that is “at the airport”, of El Salvador.
Cucalón said Migration, along with Department of Health (Minsal) personnel, “has been able to identify the passengers on that flight from Houston and have their health status verified, and we have already located 58 people.”
He added that sanctions proceedings against the airline are already underway and that “yesterday (Sunday) the corresponding fine was notified, which is the highest sanction,” he added.
El Salvador’s Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport reactivated its commercial flight operations last September, after being paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic for nearly six months, with travelers from all countries.
However, in December, people from South Africa and the United Kingdom were banned from entering El Salvador because of the new variant of the coronavirus discovered in the latter country that makes it more contagious.
El Salvador registers an increase in the number of daily cases and already exceeded 300 infections by January 6, when 303 positive cases were identified on that day. 307, 319 and 331 cases were then registered on January 7, 8 and 9, respectively.
In total, El Salvador has 48,905 confirmed cases of covid-19, of which 4,121 are active, 1,428 people have died and 43,356 Salvadorans have been fired, according to the official website of the Ministry of Health, covid19.gob.sv. ?