(Brasilia) Brazil on Friday postponed the obligation of a five-day quarantine for unvaccinated travelers from abroad on Friday due to a cyberattack on the site of the Ministry of Health.
“As a precaution, we will issue an order to postpone for seven days the start of the rules that should have come into force on Saturday,” Rodrigo Cruz, executive secretary of the Ministry of Health, told reporters.
The purpose of this report is “not to prejudice Brazilians who are abroad” and could not publish a vaccination certificate on the ministry’s website to avoid quarantine.
For now, the only requirement at the border is the presentation of a negative PCR test.
The new measures had been taken in particular in the face of the appearance of the new Omicron variant detected in several places in the country.
The Ministry of Health suffered a cyberattack overnight from Thursday to Friday which temporarily prevented access to the site and the issuance of vaccination certificates.
An investigation was opened by the Federal Police and the Brazilian intelligence services.
In recent weeks, President Jair Bolsonaro has strongly opposed the requirement to present a vaccination certificate for visitors from abroad, comparing it to a “leash” for animals.
This measure had however been recommended by the Anvisa health surveillance agency.
On Thursday, he strongly criticized Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria, who said no one could enter his state without a vaccination certificate.
“We must react, protest against that,” he blurted out.
In several Brazilian cities, including Rio de Janeiro, the country’s tourist capital, the vaccination certificate is required to access certain public places.
With 615,000 dead, Brazil is the second country most bereaved by the pandemic, after the United States.
But the daily average of deaths and contaminations has fallen sharply in recent months thanks to the progress of the vaccination campaign.