At the onset of the pandemic in Latin America in March 2020, we started taking precautions to protect our employees in Peru by putting in place procedures and protocols based on recommended practice of health authorities.
The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency on March 15, 2020, initially for a 15-day period but subsequently extended. On February 19, 2021, the Government of Peru further extended the COVID-19 health emergency for another 180 days, from March 7 to September 2, 2021.
The state of emergency initially required non-essential businesses to be shut down, creating uncertainty in our operation and supply chain. On March 19th, 2020, we initiated a temporary and orderly suspension of our Constancia mine. During the suspension period, a small workforce was maintained at the site to oversee critical aspects of the operation in order to facilitate a quick and efficient restart and ramp-up of the mine. Starting in April 2020, we began testing incoming and outbound workers at Constancia for COVID-19.
Hudbay received recognition and approval from Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines in May 2020 for its restart protocols and Constancia successfully ramped-up to normal levels by July 2020. Enhanced health and safety measures were implemented upon the re-start of operations and remain in place as Hudbay continues to monitor the local impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2020, Constancia became the first mine in Peru to obtain the SAFEGUARD Certification from Bureau Veritas. This biosafety certification confirms that Constancia fully complies with all the protocols of its COVID-19 surveillance plan. Bureau Veritas reached this conclusion after an extensive audit of the mine's policies and procedures. All COVID-19 protection measures currently remain in place.
Our overall approach for protecting workers and communities is establishing a first line of defence of quarantining and testing inbound workers, a second line of defence of distancing and protection processes at our Constancia camp and operation, and a third line of defence of testing outbound workers before they return to their communities. As new variants of COVID-19 emerge, there are procedures in place for an increased length of quarantine for incoming workers in hotels in Cusco and Arequipa before they travel to site. This testing has helped protect our workforce and local communities by identifying potentially infected individuals prior to their travel to Constancia or back to their communities. We have also adjusted work rotation schedules to support the quarantine and screening processes. As of the beginning of August 2021, Hudbay has administered nearly 100,000 tests to incoming and outgoing workers at Constancia.
In August 2021 we commenced a vaccination program for our workers at Constancia, in collaboration with public health authorities. We are also working with the regional health authorities to plan for future vaccination programs in our local communities.
While it is still a changing environment, our focus remains on the health and safety of our workforce and the local communities. We are working collaboratively with the health authorities to ensure our workforce and partners adhere to COVID-19 protocols while continuing to operate safely and efficiently. All COVID-19 protection measures currently remain in place. We are closely monitoring any developments and will consider additional protection measures that may be required, depending on the local COVID-19 situation in our regions.