(QCOSTARICA) For Tuesday, August 25, the Ministery of Health reported 842 new cases of COVID-19 in Costa Rica, 602 confirmed with laboratory tests, and 240 due to epidemiological nexus.
The accumulated figure is now 35,305, which even exceeds the figure projected as the worst scenario for September, the figure that was considered if people violated the sanitary measures.
Priscila Herrera, general director of Health, gave the information through a video, since the Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Salas, continues absent from his post since August 14, attending to the illness of his father.
Dr. Salas was expected back at work on Monday, however, it was confirmed during Tuesday afternoon’s press conference that he will return on September 7 after completing a 14 day isolation for having had contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, his 68-year-old father who on Monday was confirmed testing positive. The elder Salas is suspected to have been infected intrahospital.
According to Herrera, for Tuesday, there are 412 hospitalized, of which there are 144 are in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Herrera also reported 14 deaths due to covid-19: seven men and seven women, raising the total deaths to 376 deaths.
Diana Posada, Deputy Minister of Strategic Management of the Ministry of Justice, confirmed the second death for cases detected in prisons.
The head of operations at the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE), Sigifredo Pérez, confirmed that the cantons of Mora and Puriscal in the province of San Jose and Oreamuno in the province of Cartago, are elevated to Orange alert, which means more restrictive measures.
