Brazil’s Ceará state demands full vaccination or negative Covid-19 test for arriving tourists

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Appeals Court of the 5th Region yesterday granted a petition filed by the state government of Ceará, demanding that passengers on domestic and international flights will only be able to travel to Ceará upon presenting a full anti-Covid-19 immunization certificate or a negative test taken up to 72 hours before boarding.

Federal Judge Luiz Praxedes Vieira da Silva granted the injunction and ruled that the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) “take the appropriate measures to only authorize boarding on flights bound for Ceará and landing of private flights (when checking at the time of boarding is not possible), passengers from other states of Brazil, who, at the time of boarding at the origin, present either 1) proof of vaccination attesting to the completion of the immunization cycle, with the administration of the two doses or single dose, depending on the specifications of the immunizer used; 2) negative result of antigen test or RT-PCR performed within 72 hours before flight departure time.”

The magistrate also claims in the decision that “it is not a restriction on free movement around the country, nor a restriction on the right to freedom, but rather the protection of life which is a highly important right.”

On Friday, when the state filed the petition in federal court, governor Camilo Santana (PT) said live on social networks that “this is a measure that the country should take, it should be a national decision, but as there is no such decision then flights to Ceará require people to prove at the origin that they have tested negative for Covid or that they have taken the two vaccine doses.”

ANAC’s communication department said it had not yet been notified of how the inspection will be conducted. Fraport, the concessionaire operating Fortaleza International Airport has also not been notified and says it is waiting for ANAC’s guidelines.

Situation in Ceará

Since the last relaxation in the decree regulating the operation of economic activities in Ceará, on August 6, the number of new cases and deaths has remained stable, with a downward trend.

According to the IntegraSUS tool, from Ceará’s Health Secretariat, the number of new confirmed infections remains below 70 per day, while the number of deaths has stayed under 10 since July 29.

By Wednesday afternoon, the state had confirmed 924,654 infections, with 641,968 recovered and 23,775 deaths. ICU bed occupancy rate for Covid-19 patients stood at 41.77% and at 21.01% for ward beds.