Hard lockdown returns to Argentina July 1st

On Friday, Argentine President Alberto Fernández will announce that the quarantine in the metropolitan area will begin on Wednesday, July 1 and will last until the 16th.

After a three-hour discussion with Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, it was agreed that there will be no recreational outings - runners will be banned - and that only essential shops will be allowed to open in the, that is, supermarkets and pharmacies.

On the recommendation of specialists, weekend outings with children will be allowed to continue. There will also be more controls on traffic between jurisdictions and, as previously stipulated but not enforced, the use of public transport will be allowed only for essential activities.

The president received the provincial and city leaders after 5pm in Olivos and after an hour of debate it was decided to postpone the press conference that had been held immediately after these tripartite summits until Friday. The announcement will then be made Friday at noon.

Government sources told LPO that one of the main disagreements was between Larreta and Kicillof over the date on which the quarantine should be tightened, which has an expiry date of 28 June.

Finally, after three hours of discussion, it was agreed to start the quarantine on July 1 up to and including July 16.

"The three jurisdictions have agreed to move forward with greater restrictions on mobility that will allow a sharp decline in movement," they said in a statement from the Presidency.

Without any further details, they indicated that "the characteristics of the next phase require clarification given the delicate situation we are experiencing and the conditions imposed by the virulence of the disease".

The difference between the city and the province due to the date of implementation of the hard quarantine came from last week, as LPO reported. The Larreta administration suggests postponing the start of the stronger restrictions so that those measures will temporarily approach the subsequent opening of the quarantine.

The Buenos Aires government said that if phase 1 starts right now, as requested by Kicillof, in mid-July, when that phase eventually ends, the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area will still be at the aforementioned "peak" of infection, with two months of winter ahead of it. Larreta won in part because he managed to extend the measure by a week, just when the province registered almost 1500 cases in one day again and wanted to start Phase 1 tomorrow.