Colombia extends health emergency citing new coronavirus variant

FILE PHOTO: People wait in a recovery room after receiving their first dose of the AztraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as the Colombian government begins the vaccination campaign for people between 20 and 24 years old, in the newspaper library of the National University in Bogota, Colombia August 15, 2021. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia will extend its health state of emergency until Feb. 28 due to the emergence of a new coronavirus strain in South Africa, the Andean country's President Ivan Duque said on Saturday.

The health emergency "is extended due to the existence of a global declaration concerning the status of the pandemic as well as allowing us to continue taking all precautionary measures," Duque said from Monteria, a city in the country's province of Cordoba.