The vehicle circulation restriction measures that are applied at the national level will be maintained throughout the month of November, according to the new update published in the official government newspaper La Gaceta.
The decrees published modifies the effective dates and extends their application for the next four weeks: “The validity of this measure will be reviewed and updated in accordance with the epidemiological behavior of COVID-19“, it is indicated in the document signed by the president of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas and the Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), Rodolfo Méndez Mata.
The application of the sanitary vehicle circulation restriction establishes impediments of private vehicles circulation in two schedules, in the daytime it is based on the last license plate number of the vehicles and does not allow to circulate on a weekday. For weekends, the measure was recently removed. At night, circulation is prevented from 10 p.m. and until 5 a.m. Monday through Friday and for Saturday and Sunday, the restriction starts one hour before (9 p.m.).
The measure is maintained despite the fact that the authorities have not been able to demonstrate with technical studies how effective it is. Even the Ombudsman’s Office the Health and Transport Ministries for the documents that support maintaining the restriction, however, they still have not received a response.
In addition, other documents provided by the authorities at the request of some national assembly deputies who also question the measure, the Health Ministry based its arguments on international studies.
Questions about the validity of the vehicle circulation restriction increase daily, mainly if it is taken into account that more and more trade and border openings are taking place.
