(QCOSTARICA) Although the 294 new cases of COVID-19 reported Wednesday will force the country to step back on measures to reopen, Health Minister, Daniel Salas, affirms that there is still time to contain or flatten the contagion curve.
Visibly distressed by the epidemiological situation, Salas reiterated the call not to break social bubbles and not to hold parties or meetings in order to reduce contagion.
“We have to try to be strong, brave, because, in the end, it is our country, it is our people who are at stake here; it is the life of many people who are close to you. And we already indicated: if we enter an exponential curve, there will be deaths very often. People we are going to have to say goodbye to because there was no space in a hospital,” says Salas.
The Minister was referring to the limited resources of the health system to deal with a spike in hospitalizations.
This Wednesday, 56 COVID-19 patients were in hospital, six of them in intensive care. This is an increase of 12 in 24 hours, almost double that of early last week.
Wednesday afternoon, the minister confirmed that an official working in the central building of the Ministry of Health tested positive for COVID-19 and both this and close contacts have already been isolated.
Also Wednesday afternoon, the death number 17 by COVID-19 was confirmed. This is the 5th death in as many days, all women.
