Coronavirus Welcome to Mexico ... Enjoy Our Finest 'Sanitizing Tunnel'

There's a new kind of tunnel at the U.S.-Mexico border, and it's got nothing to do with drug traffickers ... but rather, a fresh new approach to warding off the novel coronavirus.

Travelers crossing the border from Arizona into Nogales, Sonora are being greeted with a "sanitizing tunnel" ... which looks and operates like a human car wash for COVID-19.

As you can see ... after going through a port of entry, drivers and passengers are ordered out of their cars so they can walk through inflatable tunnels on the side of the road, erected by the local government.

Mexican officials call them "sanitizing tunnels" ... and they operate by spraying people with disinfectant. After the germ-killing gauntlet, drivers and passengers climb back in their cars and continue on their merry way.

The process takes less than a minute for each person and the spray uses something called Biozinc, which according to Mexican health officials, protects against infection for up to 24 hours.

So, why the new tunnels ... Nogales mayor Jesus Antonio Pujol Irastorza says many local cases of COVID-19 were discovered in Mexican citizens returning to Mexico after traveling to the U.S.

Arizona has at least 11,300 coronavirus cases and 542 deaths ... so Mexico's taking no chances at the border.

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