Argentina Suspends Most Domestic Travel to Curb Pandemic
Argentina Suspends Most Domestic Travel to Curb Pandemic
(Bloomberg) -- Argentina will suspend domestic flights and long-distance train and bus services in the country for five days to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
From Friday, all public transportation will be shut down outside the Buenos Aires metro area. Limited transportation will continue in the capital region, with trains and buses only allowed to carry seated passengers.
The government of President Alberto Fernandez has stepped up measures in the past week to contain the outbreak. It temporarily closed Argentina’s borders, canceled school, suspended most international flights and issued a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people with symptoms and travelers returning from regions with a lot of infections.
As of Tuesday, Argentina had 65 confirmed cases and two deaths related to the pandemic.
The transport curbs come right before a 4-day holiday weekend in Argentina, and follow numerous reports of people heading to vacation destinations as schools closed and offices shut down. Fernandez and his cabinet have insisted Argentines shouldn’t be taking vacation.
“We’re aware that many Argentines still haven’t been conscious of the critical situation we’re in,” Transportation Minister Mario Meoni said Tuesday.
The measures come as Argentina’s government renegotiates billions in debt with private creditors. As a growing number of analysts say default is likely, Fernandez tried to reassure Argentines that the government’s debt plan isn’t affected.
“We’re on the right track with the debt,” Fernandez said in a radio interview Tuesday. “We need to keep the economy from paralyzing.”
Fernandez added in the interview that reviving growth is a bigger priority than curbing the fiscal deficit, and his government later on Tuesday implemented measures in line with that view. Low-income retirees and parents will receive one-time extra payments in the coming weeks to offset the economic blow, two senior officials said. They didn’t provide an estimate of the total fiscal cost.
Even before the global crisis, Argentina’s economy was expected to contract for a third straight year in 2020 with 50% inflation and high unemployment.
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