Following a deadly yellow fever outbreak, the Colombia government has declared a national health and economic emergency, urging people to get vaccinated and take precautions while traveling over Easter weekend.

New Telegraph gathered that the mosquito-borne virus, which typically causes fever, muscle pains, nausea, and headaches, is endemic to multiple countries in South America, including Colombia, where the current outbreak that has had a high mortality rate.

According to the Minister of Health Guillermo Jaramillo, at least 34 people have died among 74 confirmed cases since the start of the year.

“It’s a disease with a mortality rate of nearly 50% among those infected.

“The virus has also spread beyond the rural regions traditionally considered at risk for outbreaks, making it a threat to more communities.

“We are going to require the carrying of the vaccination card for people entering or leaving Colombia.” he said while explaining the emergency decree.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced an economic emergency on top of the health decree, and called on citizens to get vaccinated.

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“People who have not been vaccinated should not go to high-risk areas during Easter: for now, the coffee area,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

Petro blamed climate change for further spreading the virus by bringing the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to higher altitudes.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, April 15 the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded its yellow fever alert for South America to level two of four, noting that an increased number of cases of yellow fever have been reported in parts of South America.

It advised travelers to consider getting vaccinated against yellow fever or receiving booster shots before visiting some areas of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.