Panama Lifts Quarantine for Fully Vaccinated Travelers

Panama's Health Minister Luis Sucre on Tuesday informed that international travelers with a Digital Certificate of Vaccination (CDV) would not be subject to mandatory quarantine if they wish to enter the country as of May 24.

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These certificates must attest that the travelers received the COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 14 days or earlier. Passengers must also present a negative test through the IATA Travel Pass or be tested upon arrival in the country.

Mandatory quarantine in facilities designated by the Health Ministry (MINSA) remains in effect for positive cases, especially for travelers coming from South America, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Sucre also announced new restrictive measures in the Chiriqui and Veraguas provinces as COVID-19 tallies surpassed the country's average. 

MINSA launched a mass vaccination campaign divided into four phases in January. So far, over 844,078 doses have been administered to priority groups, which included health personnel, people over 60 years, and pregnant women.

On Tuesday, the Central American nation received a batch of 74,400 AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX initiative to be administered voluntarily to men over 30 years of age and women over 50.

As of Wednesday morning, Panama had confirmed 371,684 COVID-19 cases and 6,300 related deaths since the start of the pandemic last year.