Colombia has announced a national health and economic emergency due to a significant outbreak of yellow fever.
Gatekeepers News reports that in response to the situation, the government strongly encourages the public to get vaccinated and take necessary precautions while travelling, especially during the upcoming Easter weekend.
Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne virus that commonly presents symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, nausea, and headaches. This virus is endemic to several South American countries, including Colombia. The current outbreak has been particularly severe, with a concerning mortality rate.
As of now, there have been 74 confirmed cases of yellow fever in Colombia this year, resulting in at least 34 fatalities, as reported by Minister of Health Guillermo Jaramillo during an interview with state-run Radio Nacional de Colombia.
“It’s a disease with a mortality rate of nearly 50% among those infected,” he said while explaining the emergency decree.
The virus has also spread beyond the rural regions traditionally considered at risk for outbreaks, “making it a threat to more communities,” he said.
The most severe situation is in the coffee-growing Tolima area, where the number of detected yellow fever cases rose from four in September 2024 to 22 by mid-April, according to Jaramillo.
“We are going to require the carrying of the vaccination card for people entering or leaving Colombia,” he told the radio station.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced an economic emergency on top of the health decree, and called on citizens to get vaccinated.
“People who have not been vaccinated should not go to high-risk areas during Easter: for now, the coffee area,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Petro blamed climate change for further spreading the virus by bringing the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to higher altitudes.
On Tuesday, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded its yellow fever alert for South America to level two of four, noting “an increased number of cases of yellow fever have been reported in parts of South America.”
It advised travellers to consider getting vaccinated against yellow fever or receiving booster shots before visiting some areas of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.
AFP
