(QCOSTARICA) No truce. The number of new cases of the coronavirus keep piling up. This Tuesday, June 23, 91 new cases of the COVID-19 were registered, bringing the accumulated total to 2,368 people, since March when it arrived in Costa Rica.
In addition to a high number of infections, a worrisome number of 30 people simultaneously require hospitalizations, the highest number to date, three of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The data, added to the warning of the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, of the possibility that there is community transmission in the country, specifically in the Jose district of Pavas.
This community, located in the west of the canton of San José, added 20 active cases in the last four days, from a high of 22 cases achieved over three months to 42 in less than a week.
Clear evidence of the risk is that wastewater sampling carried out by the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
That means, Salas said, that there are people who are “excreting” the virus.
Another alert was the detection of six people who do not have symptoms or have links with a person infected but were detected in samples. Pavas, the largest district in San José, is one of the areas under community surveillance or “Centinela”, where regular sample testing is carried out.
For all these reasons, Pavas was declared on orange alert. As of midnight on Tuesday and the use of masks is recommended not only in establishments or transport but even on public roads.
The Pavas district iborders La Uruca in the north, Tiribí River and Escazú in the south, Mata Redonda (La Sabana) District in th east and Tiribí River and Escazú in the west. The area incdudes the well known landmarks of the Tobais Bolaños airport, Plaza Mayor and the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica.
Pavas joins the districts and cantons of Pococí, Peñas Blancas (San Ramón), Los Chiles (Los Chiles), La Fortuna (San Carlos), Upala, Paquera (Puntarenas), Alajuelita and Desamparados under the orange alert.
With Pavas, three of the greater metropolitan area’s most populated are under Orange Alert, which establishes differentiated vehicle restriction and special regulation of establishments, from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Minister Salas said, Pavas “is the district where the greatest danger of evidencing community transmission has been found. We are doing an amplified investigation, a sampling in different areas.”
Community transmission occurs when it is no longer possible to trace or determine the source of the contagion.
