BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia will extend a so-called selective quarantine until the end of November, President Ivan Duque said in a nightly address on Wednesday.
“I have given very clear instructions to the minister of health … so that we will issue a decree on November 1, to extend the selective isolation with responsible individual distancing until November 30, therefore maintaining the current conditions,” Duque said.
Duque asked local authorities and citizens to exercise greater control in staying away from crowds to avoid outbreaks like those that are occurring in European countries.
The Andean country began more than five months of lockdown in March. It entered a much-looser “selective” quarantine phase – allowing dining at restaurants and international flights – at the start of September.
Colombia has reported over 1 million infections of the novel coronavirus, with 30,753 deaths.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Additional reporting and writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
