Narayan AmmachchiColombia has ordered medical checks on all travelers coming from nine countries, including the United States after three of its citizens test positive to the new coronavirus.
Travelers from other countries under scrutiny include China, Ecuador, Italy, Iran, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and Japan, according to local media reports.
Even though these travelers show no symptoms of the virus, they will be told to stay indoors for 14 days. The screening is limited to checking the body temperature, not the nasal swab.
The measurers came after many individuals criticized the government for not scanning foreign tourists despite the rise in the number of coronavirus patients in neighboring countries.
However, there are no reports of Colombia suspecting flights to any country hit hard by the outbreak.
To confront the disease, the Andean country has also opened laboratories armed with tools to test the virus. Until the last month, it had to send samples from potentially infected people to the United States.
Labs in Bogota can detect the virus in a matter of eight hours, but patients elsewhere in the country will have to wait for 24 hours to learn of the results.
Colombia confirmed its first case of coronavirus last Saturday. Considering a statement from the country’s Health Ministry, the 19-years-old patient had recently visited Italy, the European country currently under lockdown following the rapid spread of the virus.
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