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HEALTH-VIRUS-CAPEVERDE-AVIATION-TOURISM
Cape Verde cuts flights from virus-hit countries
PRAIA, Cape Verde, March 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Cape Verde, a tropical
Atlantic archipelago heavily dependent on tourism, has banned flights from
countries affected by coronavirus, the authorities announced Tuesday.
The former Portuguese colony has not recorded any cases of the virus,
although it moved swiftly, on February 27, to block flights from Italy as the
disease began to spread rapidly there.
“In order to prevent the entry of coronavirus, we have decided to bar
flights from Portugal and all affected European countries, as well as Brazil,
the United States, Senegal and Nigeria,” Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e
Silva said in an announcement to religious and political leaders and NGOs.
The measure, due to take effect on Wednesday and scheduled to last at
least three weeks, will not apply to flights carrying cargo or medical
equipment or to planes taking stranded tourists back home or picking them up
for medical treatment abroad.
Cruise ships and yachts will also be banned from docking, and passengers
aboard trawlers and freighters will not be allowed to step ashore.
A fifth of the economy of Cape Verde, a nine-island group located off the
coast of Senegal, is dependent on tourism.
The US rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday placed the country,
along with tourism hotspots in the Caribbean, among the locations that will
be most heavily affected by travel restrictions triggered by the pandemic.
BSS/AFP/RY/1655 hrs