Santiago, Jul 23 (IANS): Chile will open its borders starting from July 26 to citizens and foreign residents returning from abroad who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Undersecretary of Public Health Paula Daza said.

The government has created a "National Unit for Border Control and Passenger Surveillance" to oversee their return within the framework of Chile's "Protected Borders Plan", Daza said at a press conference here on Thursday.

The unit will coordinate the institutions that control, test and supervise new cases of the disease at Chile's borders, reports Xinhua news agency.

For outbound travel, Chileans and foreign residents also require a so-called "Mobility Pass", similar to a vaccine passport that certifies the bearer has been fully vaccinated.

Additionally, anyone entering the South American nation must fill out a symptoms report for 14 days.

Health Minister Enrique Paris said evidence points to a decline in new cases of Covid-19 in Chile, but warned "we do not consider the virus to be defeated and all sanitary measures should be maintained".

In the past 24 hours, Chile registered 1,861 new cases and 181 more deaths from Covid-19, raising the total infection tally to 1,604,713 and the fatality toll to 34,792.