Brazi announced the restriction of the arrival of foreign seafarers onboard vessels or platforms, in order to limit the Covid-19 strains in the country.
The restriction applies since 28 May, with the government explaining that the change responds to the request of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
This request suggests the adoption of quarantine for maritime workers coming from countries with circulation of new variants of Covid-19.
In a similar move, UK seafarers travelling to France will face new travel restrictions.
As French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian informed, the UK will not end up in a red-list country, but it can face “slightly tougher sanitary measures”, possibly having a category of its own.
The arrival of the Indian variant is a problem, and we remain on high alert regarding that matter, in cooperation with the British authorities
Le Drian said.
Following the situation, the travel restrictions which apply from 31 May, mean that only essential travel from the UK to France will be permitted.
Taking into consideration the problems that crew changes face, the second Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator reveals that the number of seafarers onboard vessels beyond the expiry of their contract of employment has risen to 7.4% from 5.8% in May, representing a 24.1% relative increase.
The developments are mostly driven by the rise in Covid-19 cases in important seafaring nations, such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines, and subsequently increased restrictions in
major seafaring hubs. Input from the ship managers also indicates seafarers continue to have limited vaccine access, which would be a critical step forward to resolve the issue.
