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Puerto Rico ends its nightly Covid curfew after a year

The island will allow vaccinated visitors to enter without a negative Covid-19 test result but unvaccinated people will have to present a negative test or present a result in 48 hours.
People enjoy an evening in Old San Juan on March 20, 2021 in Puerto Rico.
People enjoy an evening out in Old San Juan on March 20, 2021 in Puerto Rico.Spencer Platt / Getty Images file

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico ended a nightly pandemic curfew Monday after more than a year in force and will allow vaccinated visitors to enter the island without a negative coronavirus test result.

The island has been under a curfew since March 2020, when the first coronavirus case was reported. Even when the curfew was sometimes changed, it mostly stayed between midnight and 5 a.m.

Arriving visitors who are not vaccinated will still be required to present a negative coronavirus test or promise to offer a test result within 48 hours. The government intends to impose a $300 fine to those who don’t comply with the testing.

But in addition to letting in vaccinated visitors, the government said that beginning Friday it will offer the Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine to anyone who arrives at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan.

Department of Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said the vaccination option will eventually be offered to all visitors coming through other airports as well as the ferries services coming from the Dominican Republic.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, if you are a resident or not,” Mellado said.

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