Brazilian citizens who issued their passports from the 21st of January will have to deal with a delay in the delivery of documents. According to the federal government, Casa da Moeda has faced difficulties in producing passports due to the high number of new cases of Covid-19. Applicants can follow the progress of the process on the government website.
The notice was published this Monday (31) and also informs a period of ten working days to obtain the document from the last day of service. “Passports issued on or after 01/21/2022 may be delayed in delivery. The recent increase in infected by the pandemic has led Casa da Moeda to face problems in the production of passports. Therefore, the total delivery period will be 10 (ten) working days, from the service”, says the statement.
Usually, the deadline for handing in the passport is six to ten working days. To obtain the document, travelers must gather the necessary documents, fill out an electronic form, pay the issuance fee and schedule an in-person appointment at a Federal Police post to collect fingerprints and a photo. After the attendance, the deadline for the delivery of the document starts to count, which, with the increase in cases of Covid-19, becomes at least ten working days.
In a note sent to CNN, the Brazilian Mint denied the information published on the federal government website, and stated that there is no change in the deadline for submitting passports. “The Brazilian Mint informs that there are no problems and/or difficulties regarding the issuance of new passports. Passports are being delivered on time,” the agency said.
The delay in delivery reported by the government happens in the same week that Brazil recorded, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1 million cases of Covid-19 in seven days. Between January 23 and 29 there were 1,305,447 cases of coronavirus registered. The numbers are from the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass).
The high number of infections is due to the advancement of the Ômicron variant, the most transmissible strain of Covid. According to Imperial College, UK, the transmission rate for the week of January 17 was 1.78, meaning that 100 people infected with the coronavirus transmitted to 178 others. It was the highest contamination rate ever recorded since January 2021.
Increase in workers on leave
A survey carried out by the Brazilian Service Sector Central (Cebrasse) at the request of the CNN revealed that the sector should have, this month, about 511 thousand workers on leave due to the disease, generating a monthly loss of R$35.53 million with the replacement of at least 50% of the workforce.
The impact of the losses resulting from the removal of professionals contaminated by Covid-19 has been affecting all sectors. The losses in the workforce led the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Welfare to sign an ordinance that reduces the time employees are absent due to illness.
For workers who tested positive, the isolation period was changed from 15 to ten days, with the possibility of decreasing to seven days if the employee tests negative. The seven-day period is also valid for suspected cases in which the worker has not had a fever for 24 hours, does not take antipyretic medication and has improved respiratory symptoms.
Source: CNN Brasil
