Requirements for income from abroad are relaxed: vaccination card or negative test

Yolanda Mamani Cayo / La Paz

(Updated note with statements by Jeyson Auza)

The negative PCR test for coronavirus is no longer a mandatory requirement for a person from abroad to enter the country. Now you can do it by presenting, instead, two alternatives: nasal antigen test or vaccination card against Covid-19, with the full dose, the Government reported yesterday through an official statement.

“On a mandatory basis, only the following requirements will be requested: have a vaccination certificate against Covid-19 in physical or digital format with a two-dose or single-dose scheme in the case of Johnson & Johnson with at least 14 days before the date of ingress; If you do not have this card, you can present a negative real-time PCR test, certified for people over five years of age; A certified nasal antigen test may also be presented,” confirmed the Minister of Health and Sports, Jeyson Auza, at a press conference this Friday.

The minister explained that the PCR test can be up to 72 hours before boarding, if traveling by air, and up to 72 hours before entering the Plurinational State, in the case of land, river or lake transport. Nasal antigen tests, on the other hand, should not be older than 48 hours in both cases.

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The authority manifested itself after more than eight hours of meeting between the Deputy Minister of Citizen Security, Roberto Ríos, and the representatives of the tourism operators. Ríos detailed yesterday that three demands were eliminated, among which was the PCR test.

“On the other hand, health insurance has been abolished, as well as the affidavit, which were part of the conflict and the obligation that (tourists) enter with a PCR test, (but the requirement that) foreigners comply with all the biosecurity measures required by the country,” he said.

The official added that in the meeting with the tourism operators it was decided to enter an intermediate room until next Thursday to analyze the other demands of the sector.

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The Government agreed to the dialogue after the protests that took place in different parts of Bolivia so that the State relaxes the requirements that scared away visitors.

In this regard, the president of the Bolivian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Ababyt), Marco Antonio Mercado, declared to page seven that the latest determinations of the Government are “adequate and well received” by the sector, but that they are not sufficient to reactivate the tourist activity that has been affected by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It seems to us an appropriate decision. The Ministry of Health has echoed our observations,” Mercado said. He added that, however, the sector is still waiting for the government to repeal Supreme Decree 4574, an issue that will be dealt with next week.

The rule establishes that “it is the obligation of travel and tourism agencies and companies to send to the General Directorate of Immigration, immediately upon registration, the information of foreign persons as tourists who use their services, through web services or via internet in the established format”.

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