Belize against non-essential travel to several countries

News

Friday, February 28, 2020

BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) — The Belize Government says it is not recommending non-essential travel to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan, as the country continues to monitor the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed more than 2,700 people in those countries.

While the majority of the deaths have occurred in China, where the virus was first detected, the authorities here said the virus has now spread to 34 countries outside of mainland China.

It said that while the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US-based Center for Disease Control have reported a decrease in the number of cases in mainland China, particularly in Wuhan Province. It is anticipated that the number of cases outside of China will continue to rise.

“While the Ministry of Health continues to heighten surveillance at points of entry, the ministry is aware that new studies are showing that individuals who may not be showing symptoms can be infected and also have an unknown source of infection.”

No Caribbean country has as yet reported any positive case of the virus.