People deported from US to Guatemala test positive for virus

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei confirmed on Friday that a large number of people on a flight of deported Guatemalan migrants from the United States had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

In a televised address to the nation Giammattei said the affected migrants had arrived from Alexandria, Louisiana on Monday.

The Associated Press confirmed on Thursday more than 40 of the deported migrants had tested positive for the virus.

The discovery has prompted Guatemala to suspend all flights of deportees from the US.

Giammattei said: "From this day forward until the agreement between the two countries is fulfilled, giving us the certainty that those people will come with a certificate demonstrating they are free of the coronavirus, the flights of deportees are suspended."

The president said that on April 4, following another flight that arrived on March 26, the US government was asked to sign an agreement to setup a protocol for bringing deported citizens and ensuring they were free of the coronavirus.

Giammattei, who spoke while wearing a surgical mask, said a mission of doctors from the Atlanta Center for Disease Control arrived on Friday and selected twelve people from the migrant group at random and tested them, later on confirming that all twelve tested positive for the disease.

Guatemala has reported 214 cases of the virus and seven deaths, according to a running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.