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Mexico

After three weeks of the “New Normal” and with the Epidemiological Traffic Light operating in the country, Mexico City will remain in red color.

Originally the head of Government (Claudia Sheinbaum), indicated that the capital of the country would change to orange this Monday, June 22^nd. However, she reported that the restart of commercial activities that were scheduled for that week of June, will be postponed she confirmed that “traffic light” will remain red as positive cases of COVID continue increasing in the capital. The activities programmed to reopen will have to wait, because what is intended is to continue reducing infections.¹

During the week of June 22nd to June 28^th  the sectors of health, emergency care, public transportation, neighborhood commerce, beer productions, professional services in the scientific or technical field, manufacturing and agriculture and livestock activities may continue to be carried out with the corresponding health care.

On the other hand, markets, street markets, department stores, restaurants, the historic center, and churches will remain closed until at least June 28th.

The Ministry of Health reported this Sunday, June 21st, that the most vulnerable states to the COVID-19 are Mexico City, the State of Mexico, and Baja California Norte because of the higher incidence record. On the other hand, Zacatecas, Baja California Sur, and Colima are the safest, showing that they have the lowest epidemiological incidence curves.²

“The recommendation of attention to the epidemiological traffic light, continues to be between red and orange in all the states (17 orange and 15 red), this means that in the short term it is not possible to speak of a reincorporation to economic activities”, said the director of Epidemiology, José Luis Alomía.

According with the Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, from June 22nd to 28th the entities in orange traffic lights are: Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Colima, Hidalgo, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Campeche.

The states that continue in red are Baja California Norte, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Querétaro, State of Mexico, Mexico City, Morelos, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Tabasco and Chiapas.³

Costa Rica

The ministry of health has announced the measures that will apply starting on June 22^nd.

Most of the country that was in yellow light has returned to the measures that were valid last week: Phase II. The districts of the border zone and those in orange light will maintain the vehicular restriction, the ones in orange light will maintain the regulation of establishments stricter that the rest of the country.

For the districts in yellow light will apply from Monday through Friday from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. During the weekend will apply a schedule from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

For the districts in orange light the schedule will be from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., this restriction will apply depending on the plate number.

In case of public transportation it is not allowed for people to travel standing up,cabs are operating normally.

Establishments for the districts in yellow light, (where  phase II maintains), can operate during the week. The establishments that can operate like art academies can open at 50% of their capacity, event rooms with a maximum capacity of 30 people and museums at a 50% of their capacity. On the weekends, these establishments can open from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Districts which are still on yellow light can not open shops, theaters, movie theaters and museums during the weekend.

Districts which are on orange light can not open restaurants, beauty parlors, shops, movie theaters, theaters and museums, churches. ⁴

Guatemala

The government has postponed the date to open the airport to receive national and international flights to August 15^th.

The airport is preparing to open establishing the social distance but stations with antibacterial gel are still missing, also they are placing trashcans so the users can throw away face masks, gloves, etc. , they will install equipment that can take the temperature.

Jorge Mario Chajon informed that the tourism should be managed per phases, first to promote the internal tourism and when the mobility is allowed, then the land tourism can be operating, and at last open the border with El Salvador.

The plan is to reactivate the internal tourism activities on July 15^th but the authorities think that the external tourism will travel to Guatemala on the first semester of 2021.

The entity informed that the touristic sector must adapt to the recommendations and security norms established by the government, he added that the opening will be based on the contagion evolution and applying measures and dates established by the president Alejandro Giammattei.⁵

El Salvador

Doctors confirm that hospitals in El Salvador have collapsed. In the meantime, the Government of El Salvador has inaugurated the first phase of the provisional hospital in Cifco, built for patients with COVID-19.

The new facilities, located in pavilions 1 and Central American, have all the medical equipment and advanced technology for 105 beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 295 beds for Intermediate Care (NICU).

The president, Nayib Bukele announced that the hospital will be called «El Salvador» and will be permanent, even when at the beginning it was built just with provisional facilities. He stated that in the first stage $ 25 million were invested, while stage 2 will be ready in July and stage 3 in August. However, even though Bukele publicly invited the journalists to take pictures of two COVID-19 patient wards, Presidency did not allow them to enter to the facilities.⁶

The Phase one began on June 16th, in which Salvadorans returned to their work activities within the framework of strict prevention measures. Supposedly this phase will continue until July 6th.

According to the Economic Reactivation Plan designed by the Government of El Salvador, in phase one it is allow the operation of sectors such as: construction, textile and electronic manufacturing, veterinary medicine (appointments and emergencies), beauty salons and barber shops (by appointment), teachers and administrators of educational centers, repair and maintenance services, and printing services, among others.

Companies will be under monitoring by the Ministry of Labor to verify that preventive measures are met.

So far, public transportation in the country is not enabled. Its operation is expected to be reactivated on July 7th, in phase two.

In this context, the Bukele´s Government asked the population to continue complying with sanitary measures during this process of reopening the economy, such as the use of a mask, hand washing with soap and water, and maintaining physical distance.⁷

REFERENCIAS:

México

1.- Milenio. 2020. CdMx sigue en semáforo rojo por covid-19; Sheinbaum ‘mete reversa’ a reaperturas. June. 06.21.2020. Accessed by 06.21.2020. https://www.milenio.com/politica/comunidad/semaforo-cdmx-covid-22-28-junio

2.- Infobae. 2020. COVID-19 en México: suman 21,825 muertos y 180,545 casos acumulados. June. 06.21.2020. Accessed by 06.21.2020.  https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2020/06/22/covid-19-en-mexico-suman-21825-muertos-y-180545-casos-acumulados/

3.- Diario AS. Uriel Salmerón. Coronavirus en México, en vivo hoy: casos, muertes y últimas noticias del Covid-19. June. June. 06.21.2020. Accessed by 06.21.2020.    https://mexico.as.com/mexico/2020/06/21/tikitakas/1592756683_238823.html

Costa Rica

4. https://www.presidencia.go.cr/comunicados/2020/06/ministerio-de-salud-detalla-las-medidas-que-vuelven-a-regir-a-partir-del-lunes-22-de-junio/

Guatemala

5. https://www.prensalibre.com/economia/coronavirus-todo-lo-que-tiene-que-pasar-en-el-aeropuerto-la-aurora-para-que-pueda-reabrir-en-agosto/

El Salvador

6.- Elsalvador.com. 2020. Gobierno impide acceso a la prensa durante inauguración de primera fase de hospital Cifco. June 06.21.2020. Accessed by 06.21.2020. https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/cifco-coronavirus-hospital-inauguracion-primera-fase/725830/2020/

7.- AA. Santiago Serna Duque. 2020. El Salvador inicia fase de reapertura económica en medio de la pandemia de COVID-19. June 06.16.2020. Accessed by 06.21.2020. https://www.aa.com.tr/es/mundo/el-salvador-inicia-fase-de-reapertura-econ%C3%B3mica-en-medio-de-la-pandemia-de-covid-19/1879205