President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei has tested positive for the virus as the country reopened its air, land, and sea borders. Foreigners are now allowed to enter Guatemala subject to a negative COVID-19 test within the 72 hours prior to travelling. El Salvador has similar requirements for those arriving into the recently reopened San Salvador airport, though the country’s Supreme Court of Justice has ordered an investigation into claims that the Government has been failing to comply with the testing requirement. 

Panama is due to open its borders to commercial air travel in mid-October, while airlines are set to gradually resume international flights to Nicaragua over the coming weeks with Avianca having already resumed regular operations. Having been the first country in the region to seem to control the virus and move out of lockdown, Costa Rica has seen an increase in its case count in August and September and experienced its second highest daily death count (21 deaths) on 23 September. Meanwhile, Honduras is releasing doctors from their government COVID-19 contracts as President Juan Orlando Hernández says the pandemic is under control. 

A sign of continuous growth in the region’s online delivery and e-commerce markets, German company Delivery Hero, has announced that it is expanding its market share in Latin America by acquiring the local operations of Spain-based Glovo in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as in Ecuador and Peru. Glovo’s operations will be acquired for over US$267m, including a US$70m performance-based earnout. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to compliance with regulatory requirements. In a statement Niklas Östberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Delivery Hero, said that Latin America is considered a core market as it is a “region with exceptional growth potential for online delivery”. 

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