Dominican aviation remains vigilant about new Covid-19 variant

The president of the Civil Aviation Board ( JAC ), José Marte Piantini, reported that the body he directs is vigilant of the new variant of Covid-19, Ómicron, after last Saturday, November 27, two confirmed cases in Germany of passengers from South Africa.

“So far, in the Civil Aviation Board we are observing the behavior of this new variant,” he confirmed.

The official clarified that to dictate new flight restrictions, the authorities must follow a protocol for which they keep observing the evolution of the new variant to determine if it would be necessary to expand the list of countries whose entry of passengers to Dominican soil is restricted, according to Diario Libre.

Marte stressed that resolution 278-2021 of the Civil Aviation Board is maintained, which suspends the entry of passengers, so far, only from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, and Angola.

“We are observing and by virtue of that we take the measures if necessary,” he said.

The German authorities ask all persons who have been in South Africa in the last 14 days to immediately reduce their contacts, undergo a PCR test, explain their travel history, and directly contact the local health department.

On the other hand, the Netherlands Institute of Public Health (RIVM) assured that it “presumes” that the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus is found in “several of the people” subjected to PCR yesterday after landing on two flights from South Africa and stressed that the final results would be known in the next few days.