Bogota, Nov 28 (IANS): Colombian President Ivan Duque has announced that the national Covid-19 health emergency will be extended until February 28, 2022.

Duque said the measure was adopted "by virtue of the existence of a global pandemic that also allows the country to continue taking all precautionary measures and care for the protection of Colombian lives."

He added that prevention and control measures will also be applied to passengers coming from Africa who transit through Europe, Brazil or the US and present symptoms of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa, Xinhua news agency reported.

"People who have been in Africa in the last 15 days and present any symptoms must inform Colombian authorities and must quarantine," he said.

The President also announced that fully vaccinated certification against Covid-19 to enter public and crowded places will be postponed until December 14 from December 1 as scheduled.