Costa Rica will take advantage of a flight organized by the United States Embassy here to bring back Costa Ricans fleeing the health and economic crisis that the pandemic has generated in that country, and who can pay for the transfer.
The Costa Rican ambassador to the United States, Fernando Llorca Castro, clarified that this is not a rescue flight. “That is an incorrect term,” he corrected.
“It is a private charter flight that will leave Houston (Texas) next Friday morning. It is a flight organized by the United States Embassy in Costa Rica to pick up US citizens who remained in the country.
“We have 138 Costa Ricans who have expressed their interest to return; 85 are from New York and surroundings,” confirmed Llorca.
In the United States, mainly in New York, five Costa Ricans have died due to covid-19. Other deaths of nationals are in the process of being confirmed, the ambassador reported.
The last of the cases was recorded early Monday morning, an 81-year-old man with 40 years of residence in the United States.
New York and New Jersey are the most devastated states by the pandemic in the US, a country with 586,515 confirmed cases and 23,765 deaths, with more than half of all deaths in New York state and New Jersey, 10,251 and 2,443, respectively, alone, a few seconds ago.
Worldwide, the number of patients is rapidly approaching two million (1,948,435), with 121,954 deceased a few seconds ago, the U.S. surpassing Italy which up to some hours ago had the largest number of deaths reported.
In Costa Rica, meanwhile, the Ministry of Health confirmed Monday 612 infected and the number of deaths remains at three, the last occurring on April 8.