As of today, Friday, truckers in transit from north to south of the country, will move in convoys, escorted by the Fuerza Publica (National Police)
A negative test for the coronavirus will not be required of them, the decision coming after complaints by carriers of spending days stuck at the borders to enter the country, affecting their income and spoiled loads.
In addition, the truckers will have a supervised stop.
“Starting today, a new measure will be taken. The carriers who are in transit from North to South or from South to North will have a mobilization in convoys; that is, in groups of different vans or trucks, in an operation coordinated with the Fuerza Publica that will try to minimize their exposure. The idea is that they travel with that escort that they are going to be provided and that greatly facilitates the operation in the border area, in addition to minimizing the risk of possible exposures in Costa Rican territory”, explained Health Minister Daniel Salas.
“Trade cannot stop. Today 50 transport units will be accompanied by an escort, so that there is no greater impact on the health of our population,” said Dyalá Jiménez, Minister of Foreign Trade.
Jiménez stated that the convoy program will begin tonight, Friday, at 10:00 pm, with fifty trucks. “They will be accompanied by an escort and will leave Peñas Blancas, on the northern border, to Paso Canoas, on the southern border. Tomorrow we will start the test in the opposite direction,” explained the minister, who also stressed that the idea is to have “the greatest traceability and avoid a greater impact on the health of our people.”
The announcement was made by Ministers Salas and Jiménez at the press conference on the state of the situation of the Covid-19 this Friday. In it, the health authorities announced the diagnosis of 13 new cases of the virus, for a total of 843 people in the country. Of that total, 18 people are hospitalized (five in intensive care) and eight people have died.
Many of these carriers have already had previous tests, taking into account that they were waiting to enter the country.
Last week, the Ministry of Health instituted a policy that all truckers were required to submit to covid-19 testing and would be allowed entry only they tested negative; 31 truckers tested positive, the majority at the northern border with Nicaragua.
The testing caused a tremendous backlog of trucks. On the Nicaragua side, the Nicaragua Truckers Association said the line on Thursday was about 13 kilometers.
