MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile closes borders, bans foreign travel and extends curfew in latest anti covid-19 maneuver

Exit visas can be granted in a very limited number of cases, Katherine Martorell explained

The Chilean Government of President Sebastián Piñera Thursday decided to close its borders throughout April, ban all foreign travel and move forward the current curfew to 9 pm as the second covid-19 wave spreads faster than expected.

Health Ministry officials made the announcement Thursday. They clarified that the ban on foreign travel would last for at least the entire month of April and apply equally to Chileans and foreigners residing in the country.

Exit visas can only be granted “because it is essential to the country because there is a health-related essential humanitarian measure [involved], or because the person departing plans never to return,” Crime Prevention Undersecretary Katherine Martorell explained. “Entry of non-resident foreigners is prohibited for 30 days,” she added.

The Health Ministry also announced that starting this Monday, April 5, the curfew will be brought forward one hour, thus ranging from 21:00 to 5:00 the next day.

Chile has already broken the one-million-case barrier, joining Peru, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Iran. Some of them are rapidly approaching the 2-million-case milestone.

The total number of new daily cases in Chile rose to 7,830, amid one of the most effective vaccination campaigns worldwide, with 6,795,818 people having received the first dose, according to official figures.