A 54-year-old doctor became the sixth fatality of covid-19 in Costa Rica on Monday. He was the first Costa Rica to test positive for the virus in the country, confirmed on March 6.
He was considered a super-disseminator due to the large number of infections generated as a result of his case. He worked as a gynecologist at the San Rafael de Alajuela Hospital.
On March 11, Health authorities confirmed he had infected at least five people with whom he had direct contact, infecting others and so on. Some 165 workers at the Alajuela hospital had to be isolated, as they also had contact with their co-worker.
The man had multiple risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, in addition to other conditions that were not cited by the Ministry of Health.
As detailed by the authorities, on April 7 he tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2. However, he is counted as one more death from said disease.
The other five deceased are:
- March 18: an 87-year-old man admitted to the Alajuela hospital with risk factors.
- March 19: Another 87-year-old man admitted to the Alajuela hospital, with risk factors.
- April 8: A 45-year-old man admitted to the San Juan de Dios Hospital, without risk factors.
- April 15: An 84-year-old man admitted to the San Juan de Dios Hospital, with risk factors.
- April 19:. A 69-year-old man admitted to the San Juan de Dios Hospital, with risk factors.
This Sunday the number of confirmed cases reached 660, of which 112 patients have already recovered, or 17% of the total infected with the virus.