Peru opened Machu Picchu for a single tourist who been stuck in virus lockdown for 7 months waiting to see it
10/13/2020
- Peru reopened Machu Picchu to allow one tourist who had been trapped in its coronavirus lockdown to visit.
- Jesse Takayama came to Peru in mid-March to see the ancient Inca site, just as the COVID-19 pandemic shut it down.
- Peru had one of the world's strictest lockdowns, which included the closure of international borders, curfews, and tourist attractions.
- Takayama visited the site on Saturday, before he was due to travel home.
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Peru opened the ancient Machu Picchu site for a single tourist who had been stranded in the country for seven months trying to see it.
Jesse Takayama, a tourist from Japan, was allowed to see the ancient Inca citadel on October 10, having first arrived in Peru in March, Peru's culture minister said.
Culture minister Alejandro Neyra said it had been Takayama's dream to see Machi Picchu, The Guardian reported. But he was then caught in one of the world's harshest lockdowns, which began on March 16.
This lockdown meant that international borders were closed, a curfew was brought in, and people were only able to leave their home to buy essential goods.
Neyra said that Takayama had been stranded in the town of Aguas Calientes, around five miles away from the site.
Takayama was able to visit before any other tourists after submitting a special request.
Takayama is now leaving Peru.
In a video recorded at the top of the mountain, Katayama said: "This is so amazing! Thank you!"
The site is a popular tourist attraction: 1,578,030 people visited in 2018, according to the Peru Telegraph.
The BBC reported that Machu Picchu is expected to re-open to a reduced number of visitors next month, but that no exact date has been made public yet.
Peru's reported coronavirus cases are currently falling, with around 3,000 new cases a day.
Its cases first peaked in March, when daily cases reached more than 8,000, and again in August, when more than 10,000 cases were recorded in one day.
In total, Peru has reported more than 851,000 coronavirus cases and 33,357 deaths.
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