QCOSTARICA – For Thursday, October 8, 2020, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, in one of his rare appearances lately, informed that there 1,331 new cases of COVID-19 over the previous day, for a total now of 84,828 cases from the first on March 6.
They are 40,690 women and 44,138 men, of which 70,093 are Costa Rican and 14,735 are foreigners.
There are 51,782 recovered persons, of which 24,673 are women and 27,109 are men.
A total of 568 people are hospitalized, 197 of them in intensive care with an age range of one to 89 years. Although there was a slight increase in the number of hospitalized, there was a significant drop of patients in the ICU. A good sign, we hope.
The death toll continues to add up, for Thursday, Minister Salas reported 16 new deaths associated with COVID-19, the total now is 1,040, of which 392 are women and 648 men, ranging in age from 18 to 100 years.
By age, 695 (66.8%) are seniors.
Flights from Central America
The Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Segura, announced the starting October 15, Costa Rica opens its air borders to visitors from Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. Visitors from Mexico were authorized starting from October 1.
Arrivals, at either the Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose or the Daniel Oduber in Liberia, Guanacaste, must comply with the health protocols. See our report here.
Extended hours for beaches.
The Minister of Tourism also announced expanded hours of all beaches, starting October 15 they can be open from 5 am to 10 pm weekdays and from 5 am to 8 pm on weekends. See our report here.