By Sami Zaptia.
London, 14 August 2020:
Libya’s Tripoli based Interior Ministry announced yesterday that it was ready to reopen the country’s borders with Tunisia, subject to adequate preventative health measures being put in place.
The revelation came after an expanded meeting in Tripoli yesterday between the various Interior Ministry departments and Libya’s prime anti-Coronavirus body, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The meeting stressed the need for the conclusion of an agreement to facilitate the flow between the two countries the importance of unifying procedures in place that would impose health and security controls on both entry and departure. The most important of these were the focus on health controls, prevention of congestion, applying the social distancing, and taking proactive measures in the event of approval of the reopening of the borders.
The NCDC, meanwhile, stressed the importance of providing PCR laboratories at borders and requesting analysis for those coming from Tunisia, and stressed the usefulness of this type of PCR analysis in showing the results on the same day, in addition to sterilizing and disinfecting all motor vehicles, goods and bags coming and leaving, and providing personal protective means to members working at the border points.
The provision of personal protective means as well as activate preventive precautions were also emphasized.
It must be kept in mind that Libya’s Coronavirus cases have continued to rise. Yesterday the NCDC reported 439 new cases, bringing the total to 7,050, and three new deaths bring the total to 135.
Turkey is currently the only country receiving Libyan passengers by plane from Mitiga to Istanbul airport. Libya is only receiving Libyans through exceptionally organized chartered flights after going through a quarantine period and taking the PCR test.
