On day 21 of the first detection of the coronavirus covid-19 in Costa Rica, the Ministry of Health reported during the mid-day briefing there are now 231 confirmed cases.
Of these, 101 are women and 130 men; 209 are Costa Rican and 18 foreigners, four whose nationality is still under investigation.
By age group, there are 223 adults (of which 19 are seniors) and eight minors. There are contagions detected in 43 of the 82 cantons in Costa Rica
Through laboratory tests, in addition, 2,331 suspected cases have been ruled out.
Currently, there are six people in a hospital, five of them in intensive care. The ages of these patients range from 36 to 72, three of which are under the age of 50.
“So we have to be careful that it’s not just about protecting older adults. It is obviously the most fragile population. They should avoid going to public places, try to bring them food, teach them virtual procedures but not have direct contact with them because we can all get sick,” warned Daniel Salas, the Minister of Health/
Salas also reported that the authorization was given to five private laboratories to carry out the covid-19 tests, in addition to the Ministry of Health. They are Labin, Clínica Blíblica, Páez, San José and Hospital Metropolitano.
“We have authorized them. It is important that there be more and more tests in the country, but these are conditioned on having an immediate report so that the Ministry of Health makes the health orders, the contact of close people and the entire protocol,” he warned.
Minister Salas has warned that the pandemic wave may last from eight to 12 weeks. In addition, according to the response of citizens, between 20% and 60% of the population can get sick.
He recalled that what happens within private properties is the responsibility of each person and family. So, he said, if the intention is to seek physical distance from one another, there is no point in having a party in a house.
“We cannot enter your house to tell you not to have a meeting or a party. It is a moment of responsibility and that involves the internal spaces of the house,” said the Minister.
“The more a person has symptoms, the ability for those droplets of saliva to infect objects and for those objects to contaminate someone else, multiplies,” he explained on the need to disinfect surfaces.
