Private planes take to the sky to ferry coronavirus tests from isolated Colombia

Bacteriologist Diana Carolina Galvan, from the Hospital de La Primavera, using protection elements gives to the pilot Ernesto Perez a box with samples of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that will be processed in Bogota, in La Primavera, Colombia June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Luis Jaime Acosta

LA PRIMAVERA, Colombia (Reuters) - "This is HK4679 G on a humanitarian flight between La Primavera and Cumaribo, transporting COVID-19 tests at 3,500 feet," Ernesto Perez radioed to a nearby military base as he piloted his twin-engine plane above Colombia's wide eastern plains.

Perez, who works in financial technology, requested permission to detour to avoid storm clouds, guiding the disinfected aircraft to one of the Andean country's remotest towns.