On March 12, 2020 the Ministry of Health and Social Protection declared a health emergency on Colombian territory due to the outbreak of COVID-19. 

In order to prevent, restrain and mitigate the effects of COVID-19 outbreak in ethnic differentiated communities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs suspended the activities of the Direction of the National Authority of Prior Consultation. Therefore, the verification visits and prior consultation meetings, at all stages, were suspended from March 16 to March 30. Also, for the same term the in-person meetings in the authority facilities were suspended.

When the term of suspension ends, the Direction of National Prior Consultation Authority must evaluate the relevance of adopting new prevention and mitigation measures, in order to protect ethnical differentiated communities from COVID-19 outbreak.