Bogota Lifts Covid-19 Restriction on Men or Women Going Out

HAVANA TIMES – The Colombian capital Bogota will lift a Covid-19 protection measure which allowed women and men to only go out on alternate days, Mayor Claudia Lopez announced on Friday, reported dpa news.

The measure, which was imposed mid-April, has been “successful,” the mayor said.

But it will now be lifted on Monday due to the gradual reactivation of the economy, which will require more than 2 million people – men and women – to go to work in the metropolis of 8 million inhabitants.

“We should act as if we all had the coronavirus,” Lopez said, stressing that the use of face masks was compulsory.

Under the restriction on women and men, known as “pico y genero,” transsexual people could go out depending on the sexual identity marked in their identity documents. Some transsexuals complained of abusive treatment by police enforcing the rule.

Colombia has registered nearly 10,000 Covid-19 cases and about 400 deaths. Around 38 per cent of the cases are in Bogota, according to Lopez.

The South American country is under a nationwide quarantine until May 25.