Medical authorities
(Photo : Reuters)



President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador tweeted on Monday accusing Mexico that they boarded 12 passengers who are suspected to have tested positive for COVID-19 back to their country according to a recently published article.

12 young airline passengers were suspected to be COVID-19 positive after they wore protective masks. This is the origin of El Salvador's accusation to Mexico. The passengers were about to board from Mexico to El Salvador's city, San Salvador.

President Bukele tweeted that "I ask all the people who are thinking of boarding that flight, DON'T DO IT," He also described that Mexican officials as "irresponsible" for allowing a dozen of passengers who for him are COVID-19 positive to travel freely.

The President also wrote on his tweet that those who board on the flight along with the 12 passengers are now putting their families' lives at great risk because they might be infected with the virus.

Not only that, but he also mentioned that aside from the passengers, the crew of the plane is also at great risk. He asserted that patients who are tested positive for COVID-19 must be isolated and be allowed to circulate around the airport.

However, Mexico's Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said that the accusation of President Bukele is absolutely false. He said that what happened was an example of misinformation as the world is still in a panic because of the virus.


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Lopez-Gatell told on Monday that none of the passengers who boarded on the plane were positive for COVID-19 based on the exhaustive and careful medical inspection.

The 12 passengers who were said to have COVID-19 are Salvadorans who arrived in Mexico on Monday morning from Chicago and transferred to another flight back to San Salvador, Mexican officials say. The only reason that they were suspected to have the virus is that they all wore protective masks.

The Avianca flight where the 12 passengers boarded immediately canceled the connecting flight to San Salvador after Pres. Bukele posted on his Tweeter account. They even thanked the Pres. for alerting them about the 12 passengers who intend to board the flight.

The post of the President who has 1.4 million followers led the Mexican officials to send medical authorities to test and examine the 12 passengers. 

Bukele wrote again on his Twitter account that "It's impossible that in 1 hour to have examined 12 people for COVID-19 when ... you would have had to wait 7 hours for results." This was after his testy conversation with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.

Meanwhile, Mexican officials said that the accusation of Pres. Bukele was baseless given that the 12 passengers do not have any reason why they should be tested which makes it impossible for them to be called as confirmed cases. 

Since the 12 passengers alleged to have COVID-19 are all Salvadorans, Bukele sent a special plane to Mexico to transport back the 12 passengers. Bukele wrote on his Twitter that the 12 young Salvadoran passengers are his responsibility but what he cannot allow is that they will board along with 200 other passengers and crew.

Following this, he ordered that all flights from Mexico will remain suspended while the San Salvador airport is already open for flights throughout the region.