Quintana Roo to Enter Yellow Alert

With a new wave of Covid-19 infections now affecting almost every country, in Mexico, the state of Quintana Roo will institute its code yellow alert system beginning January tenth. The code, which indicates people can resume limited activities but with caution, will be in effect until January sixteenth. Mexico’s color code system ranges from the highest red alert, to orange, yellow, and green— with green being an almost complete return to normal life. Red alert is the almost total shutdown except for essential movement. According to the Yucatan Times, the current COVID spread in Mexico is mainly driven by the large number of people in high density tourist areas. On January second, the Mexican Secretariat of Health reported over forty-six thousand active cases countrywide, double what was reported on December twenty-eighth. The most populous city in Quintana Roo is the resort center of Cancun. Elsewhere in Mexico, the state of Baja California Sur, where tourist destinations such as Los Cabos attract tens of thousands of tourists has also seen a significant jump in COVID cases. The Yucatan Times says, however, the presence of the omicron strain in tourist areas such as Los Cabos and Cancún has not prevented the government from allowing cruise ships to dock in most Mexican ports despite carrying passengers who were infected with the Corona Virus. Belize’s land border with Mexico which was scheduled to reopen January first remains closed, with no reopening date yet made public. Cruise ships that stop in Belize often include Caribbean Mexican ports in their itineraries.