• About
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Meet our Donors
    • News
  • Issues
    • Safety
    • Opportunity
    • Reporting
    • Recognition
    • Equity
  • Programs
    • Reporting Fellowships
      • Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship
      • ¡Exprésate! LGBTQI+ Reporting Initiative
      • Gender Justice Reporting Initiative
      • Global Health Reporting Initiative
      • Round Earth Media
    • Grants & Funds
      • Fund For Women Journalists
      • Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on MMIWG2T
      • Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism
      • Kim Wall Memorial Fund
      • Reproductive Rights Reporting Fund
      • Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice in the Americas
    • Physical & Digital Safety
      • Online Abuse and Harassment
      • Hostile Environment Training
      • Next Gen Safety Trainers
      • Women in Politics and Media
    • Mentorship & Professional Development
      • Gwen Ifill Mentorship Program
      • Fellowship Program for Afghan Women Journalists in Exile
    • Emergency Assistance
      • Emergency Fund for Women Journalists
      • Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund
      • Alex Duval Smith Memorial Fund
    • Past Programs
  • Reporting
  • Community
  • Awards
    • Anja Niedringhaus Award
    • Courage in Journalism Award
    • Gwen Ifill Award
    • Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award
  • Resources
    • Self Care & Trauma
    • Research
    • Impact Reports
    • Webinars
  • Search
Search Donate
Reporting

El Salvador embraces border measures before confirming any coronavirus cases

March 9, 2020 | Ruby Mellen

SAN SALVADOR — President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador announced over the weekend a ban on travelers from France and Germany, adding them to a list that already included China, Iran, Italy and South Korea, placing the Central American country ahead of its neighbors in the stringency of its reaction to the coronavirus epidemic.

Salvadoran nationals, including diplomats, returning from countries with travel bans will be quarantined for 30 days, the government said.

El Salvador has not confirmed any coronavirus cases. Neighboring Mexico and nearby Costa Rica have both reported cases but have not put travel bans in place.

The government took steps Sunday to sanitize El Salvador International Airport and brought in new equipment to check the temperatures of incoming passengers.

“We should implement measures to check symptoms and monitor the health of people entering El Salvador from any country that has reported cases of coronavirus,” Bukele tweeted.

Even before the president’s announcement, international travelers going through customs were already receiving temperature checks and being asked to declare their travel history. On Sunday, three Salvadoran students who were studying in Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the outbreak in China, returned to El Salvador after completing a quarantine period in Ukraine.

Nearly a third of Salvadorans live in poverty. Experts have warned that poor and marginalized populations are at heightened risk as the virus spreads.

Francisco Alabi, El Salvador’s deputy health minister, told reporters Monday that the lack of confirmed and suspected cases in the country meant there was no reason yet for Salvadorans to worry.

“People need to be calm,” he said.

The International Women’s Media Foundation provided support for this reporting as part of the Adelante Latin American Reporting Initiative.

About the Author

Ruby Mellen

Ruby Mellen is an assistant editor on the Washington Post’s foreign desk based in Washington D.C.. There she edits and writes for Today’s WorldView, a daily newsletter that provides analytical… Read More.

Related Topics
Health
More From This Author
El Salvador’s president says the country has no coronavirus cases, declares a national quarantine

Sign Up For Our Mailing List

Mission

We unleash the potential of women journalists as champions of press freedom to transform the global news media.

Address

1625 K Street NW, Suite 1275
Washington, DC 20006
Please mail checks to:
ATTN: Adena Martin
PO BOX 374 Clinton, MD 20735-9997, USA

Contact Us

info@iwmf.org
(+1) 202-496-1992

Connect
Privacy Terms of Service

Copyright © 2023 International Women's Media Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Nonprofit Web Design by NMC.