‘This is not an epidemic,’ health minister says; Civil aviation office issues new drone rules; Colombia urges caution for police and soldiers following murders
Minister of Health Edgar Lama said Monday that the country is not facing an epidemic similar to the Covid-19 pandemic. “This is serious, but it does not approach the level of the health crisis we faced in 2020 and 2021,” he said.
“I believe it is very likely we will soon see a noticeable improvement with respect to the numbers of pertussis [whooping cough] cases,” he said. “Although they are concerning, we have only confirmed five cases of yellow fever. The health situation should improve for both diseases as the rainy season ends.”
The Ministry of Health says that the vaccination program against whooping cough is aimed primarily at the 35% of unvaccinated school children.
Lama said the national vaccination program that began this week should also help control the whooping cough outbreak, noting that it is aimed at the estimated 35% of unvaccinated school-age children. “This is a disease that mostly affects the very young, with the highest risk for infants under the age of two,” he said. To date, he said, 322 cases and 11 deaths have been reported.
In a press release Tuesday, the health ministry “clarified” the situation regarding yellow fever. “This is a disease spread by infected mosquitos in low-elevation tropical regions, particularly the Amazon,” it said. “It is not a threat in the sierra and inter-mountain valley as disease-carrying mosquitos are not active above 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) elevation.”
The statement continued: “Yellow fever infections are not spread by person-to-person contact.”
Government issues new drone rules
Ecuador’s Civil Aviation office (DGAC) has issued new rules for the private operation of drones. “The use of drones that compromise the personal privacy or right to intimacy of citizens is forbidden,” DGAC said Saturday. “This prohibition applies to low-level overflights of private property and all operations intended to gather information and images of citizens.”
According to DGAC, the new rules are based on the Organic Law on the Protection of Personal Data which prohibits the capture, storage or dissemination of private information except in cases authorized by government officials. DGAC said suspected violations will be considered on a case-by-case basis and could lead to criminal and civil penalties.
Previously, drone flights were prohibited only within 1000 meters of airports, prisons and shipping ports.
Colombia urges travel caution for police and soldiers
Colombia’s Ministry of Defense is recommending police and military personnel travel to their jobs dressed in civilian clothes in order to avoid the random attacks launched recently by the paramilitary group Clan del Golfo. Since April 20, 32 police officers and soldiers have been murdered in the assaults.
In addition, the ministry is advising police and military personnel to keep their service revolvers with them at all times, not to post work-related information on social media and vary their routes to and from active duty.
The killings, which have stunned Colombians, are reminiscent of the Pable Escobar era of the 1990s. To intimidate the government, Escobar ordered his hitmen to randomly kill more than 600 police and soldiers.
