MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Vizzotti pledges to lift test requirement for residents of bordering cities

Vizzotti pledged to attend to the needs of “people who come and go for the day or have a situation other than tourism”

Argentina's Health Minister Carla Vizzotti Thursday announced in Puerto Iguazú that PCR testing for people living in “mirror cities” will no longer be required for border neighbourhood transit.

Vizzotti, who went to the Argentine province of Misiones to launch the national campaign against dengue, said she had met with Governor Oscar Herrera Ahead and other local authorities and announced that the PCR test would only apply to tourists from elsewhere.

“There is a situation that is improving and that needs requirements to minimize the risk of entry of the virus and new variants,” the minister said. But she acknowledged there were “people who come and go for the day or have a situation other than tourism; it is what we talked about” simplifying, she went on.

Puerto Iguazú is on the Argentine side of the three-way border with Paraguay's Ciudad del Este and Brazil's Foç de Iguaçu.

“We want a summer season with a lot of movement and without diseases,” she added.

Herrera Ahuad had formally requested the suppression of the PCR test to enter the country through Misiones. “We are going to request to keep the antigen but to eliminate the PCR, taking into account that it is regional tourism and nearby towns that cannot be doing this test all the time. We will see the realities of the province to put them on the table for discussion,” the governor had said.

“Since we took office we have launched the national campaign for vector-borne diseases and after almost two very difficult years in the world, in the country and Misiones, we are launching it again with great enthusiasm so that this summer season has a lot of movement and let's have a quiet season in what is dengue, yellow fever and all vector-borne diseases is very important,” Vizzotti highlighted as she launched the dengue campaign, which shall be based on coordinated measures with local jurisdictions for the containment of the first cases and control of outbreaks.

Misiones' Health Minister Oscar Alarcón said “we have been working intensely all year, the inter-outbreak period was fabulous, nobody lowered their arms. This allowed us to be in a favourable epidemiological situation with dengue.”

But “we do not have to relax because dengue is everyone's problem,” he added.

Misiones Lieutenant Governor Carlos Arce pointed out that “dengue has always worried us, even though we are in a better situation than in 2015, 2017 or 2019, this becomes widespread and teaches us not to lower our arms.”

“There has to be a commitment from everyone to be able to fight it,” he went on.