Nicaragua “Recommends” Quarantine to People Arriving from Countries with Covid-19
With this decision, the Government changes its position regarding social isolation; Murillo had said that there would be “no quarantine of any kind”
By EFE (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – The Ministry of Health (MINSA) informed on Monday the decision to “recommend” quarantine in Nicaragua to people arriving from countries with “active transmission” of Covid-19, amid criticism towards Daniel Ortega’s Government for not taking preventive measures against the pandemic.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Davila, reported that the authorities are examining “passengers who come from countries with active coronavirus transmission, taking their data, and afterwards advising them that they should remain isolated in their homes for the next 14 days, complying with all preventive measures.”
With this decision, the Government of Nicaragua changed its position regarding social isolation, since until now Vice President, Rosario Murillo, had reiterated that her husband, Ortega, would not establish “a quarantine of any kind.”
Davila said that, in addition to recommending quarantine, the authorities ask travelers “if they have traveled to countries with active transmission or if they have had any contact with people who have traveled.” In case of the presence of one symptom, or if they had “an epidemiological link with these people, they would be admitted (to a hospital) immediately, and activate the established protocol.”
The Government of Nicaragua has not provided details about the action protocol for Covid-19 to which the minister made reference.
Treatment of COVID-19 suspected cases
Until now, the Nicaraguan authorities, who do not report any death from Covid-19, have only reported two cases related to the pandemic, and have insisted that they are “imported,” which has earned them criticism because the travel dates given make people believe that the patients were infected before leaving the country.
Davila avoided talking about the number of suspicious cases handled by the MINSA and asserted that “we have carried out Covid-19 tests on people who warrant it, all of which have been negative.”
Hours before the minister’s statements, the secretary general of MINSA, Carlos Saenz, had revealed that 200 Covid-19 tests have been done, which also contradicted Murillo, who maintained that in Nicaragua there have been only five suspected cases, two of which resulted positive.
Davila did mention that the authorities are following up on six people who had contact with one of the positive cases, who are progressing satisfactorily.
Nicaragua is the only country in Central America that has not adopted the Covid-19 preventive measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), except for issuing some recommendations on personal hygiene and monitoring the pandemic at the local level.