New restrictions to enter Ecuador

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Last night, President Lasso of Ecuador, announced the following measurements to curtail the possibility of the new Omicron variant in Ecuador. They are effective as of December 1.

- To enter Ecuador, all people, nationals and foreigners, must present their complete vaccination certificate, with at least 14 days of validity, as well as a negative PCR (not the fast antigen) test within 72 hours of arriving into the country. All tests must be from a certified lab in your country of origin.

- Children and adolescents aged 2 to 16 years entering the country must present a negative result of a PCR test performed up to 72 hours prior to the flight to Ecuador.

- If you are a ‘suspicious case’ (symptomatic), a real-time PCR test will be carried out. If you are positive, a 14 day quarantine will be imposed.

- There is an entry ban for all travelers whose point of origin, stopover or transit are the following African countries: South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Mozambique and Egypt.

 

[drrich2]

with at least 14 days of validity

What does that mean? Does it mean at least 14 days have passed since the 2nd dose of the 2-dose Moderna and Pfizer series, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?

a 14 day quarantine will be imposed

I wish nations disclosed the details of that better. I'd especially like to know food options. Are you stuck with no choice, eat-it-of-leave-it fare like a prisoner? Can you order a pizza delivery or Chinese take-out delivery?

 

[Jcp2]

I wish nations disclosed the details of that better. I'd especially like to know food options. Are you stuck with no choice, eat-it-of-leave-it fare like a prisoner? Can you order a pizza delivery or Chinese take-out delivery?

Yes.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

What does that mean? Does it mean at least 14 days have passed since the 2nd dose of the 2-dose Moderna and Pfizer series, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?

I wish nations disclosed the details of that better. I'd especially like to know food options. Are you stuck with no choice, eat-it-of-leave-it fare like a prisoner? Can you order a pizza delivery or Chinese take-out delivery?

Yes, it means you must have had your 2nd shot of Pfizer/Moderna or single shot of J&J at least 14 days prior to entering the country. As for quarantine, there are no state mandated hotels here, so I imagine it would be a hotel/AirBnB of your choice in which ever city you flew into and in either, yes, there would be lots of food delivery options. You would not go hungry.

 

[drrich2]

so I imagine it would be a hotel/AirBnB of your choice in which ever city you flew into

Thanks, good to know. I wonder how many hotel/AirBnB/VRBO operations are interested in renting to alleged active COVID-19 patients? I would think they'd fear the stigma (after all, would you book a room at such a place?), and the level of wipe down/sanitization one might expect afterwards sounds like a lot of work. Perhaps not so bad in a fairly bland hotel room without a lot of furnishings, but in a AirBnB/VRBO/Condo. type place, with all the furnishings and clutter typical of a middle class home, that prospect sounds daunting.

I'm thinking in terms of the person who tests positive and suddenly faces a 14-day quarantine mandate. Is he handed a list of places to call, do officials check around, is he confined to a room with a phone book till someone confirms they agreed to take him, etc...?

Answers to such questions may be hard to come by, and could change quickly over time. Perhaps someone this happens to will write up a report on ScubaBoard.

At least food delivery options would make things more bearable.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Yeah, I agree. I think Air BnB options might prove difficult. I am curious as to whether or not they vet those who are staying. I know they do feature their cleaning and other precautions heavily. In looking at AirBnBs in, for example, Quito, most seem like corporate apartments rather than homes. I have no idea about whether or not someone who tests positive is given a list of places, but it does seem like certain hotels may end up needing to be designated for this purpose. I think most countries do check, unlike the US. I remember very steep fines in Canada for breaking quarantine regulations and just today, read about a couple who fled quarantine in Amsterdam and were arrested for doing so.

Ecuador has had one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, Galapagos even more so. They broke down the rates of vaccination by age in Galapagos. It was the elderly who had the lowest rate at 87%. Younger people had a 100% vaccination rate. People are great about masks, social distancing and pretty much all complied with the various lock downs and restrictions when they were in place. When the US was having the huge Delta variant surge in August with hospitals overrun by COVID patients to the point of having to turn away others who needed ICU beds, Ecuador was reporting 0 COVID hospitalizations. Can't blame them for wanting to protect the work they've done to get to this point. In the beginning, Guayaquil was even worse than NYC with deaths to the point of making headlines around the world.

 

[drl]

I can’t blame them at all, but it’s not good news for our January Galapagos trip. Just hope it doesn’t get worse!

 

[Saniflush]

I too am a bit nervous about our trip for February with the new U.S. restrictions that just came out, but realistically for those of us who have already been traveling over the last year or so these are not insurmountable restrictions. Trying to get a handle on what is the access of getting a negative test within 24 hours coming back. Will post whatever I find out.

 

[tridacna]

I too am a bit nervous about our trip for February with the new U.S. restrictions that just came out, but realistically for those of us who have already been traveling over the last year or so these are not insurmountable restrictions. Trying to get a handle on what is the access of getting a negative test within ONE DAY of coming back. Will post whatever I find out.

FTFY.

 

[Saniflush]

FTFY.

Yep, sorry I should have said that they have made the distinction that "a day" was 24 hours in regards to how it is viewed. Thank you for clarifying.