Venezuela Takes Action Against COVID-19 Amid the US Blockade

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro Thursday announced that the health system is "on permanent alert," although there are no Covid-19 cases in this South American country so far. He also reported that landing of flights from Europe, Colombia, and Panama will be prohibited from March 15.

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Maduro also indicated that the border with Colombia must be cordoned off and urged the authorities of the neighboring country to act jointly to contain the disease.

"I tell President [Ivan] Duque, beyond ideological differences, this is a true humanitarian situation and we need to coordinate from government to government, from health ministry to health ministry, and cordon off the entire border and protect the people from Venezuela and Colombia," he said.

Maduro also stressed that his government has been working to prevent the arrival of Covid-19 to Venezuela in difficult circumstances due to the U.S. blockade against the Bolivarian people.

"We have taken all preventive measures to prevent the arrival of the virus... we have carried out all the actions that the [U.S.] criminal sanctions have allowed us to undertake."

Previously, on Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the Covid-19 outbreak is a pandemic due to its spread around the world.

Faced with likely attempts by the right-wing forces to destabilize Venezuela, President Maduro called on opponents to act with a humanitarian sense and invited the population to increase their solidarity.

"Let us be the greatest example of social discipline, organization, medical scientific quality, cooperation to solve all these situations," the Bolivarian leader said.