QCOSTARICA – The Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Salas, in one of his rare television appearances of late, took the opportunity during the weekly press conference from Casa Presidencial, to for responsibility and asked people not to go “loco” during Semana Santa to prevent the COVID-19 infections from firing up again.
Even rarer, on Tuesday, Salas provided the epidemiological report, as he used to do every day in the first months of the pandemic, on the current coronavirus situation in the country and asked of the population to redouble efforts against the virus.
“We changed the year, we are vaccinating, it is true, but we have not yet reached vaccination percentages that allow greater freedom in the sense of being able to carry out many activities with a high risk of transmission of the virus. The virus continues to be transmitted, there are people at this time hospitalized and in intensive care with their lives at high risk.
“The behavior of people when we go on vacation, to enjoy … we must take care of ourselves, continue to use the mask, continue to maintain the distance between bubbles, keep ourselves in the most ventilated places possible, wash our hands whenever we can, is still something very important,” said the minister.
Alexander Solís, president of the National Emergency Commission, was also at the conference, with good news, informing that the tenth batch of vaccines against covid-19 would arrive Tuesday, a shipment of 84,240 doses, so the country will have received a total of 557,115 vaccines in less than three months.
AstraZeneca vaccine
“There is nothing to say that the AstraZeneca vaccine has caused clots,” said Dr. Salas, touching on the subject of the reports that nine European countries temporarily suspended vaccination with this product: Austria, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
“There is no scientifically proven link between the application of the vaccine and the appearance of clots. This is being investigated, it is being paused in these countries to advance with the investigations,” said the minister
Costa Rica signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to purchase 1 million doses to protect 500,000 people. These vaccines have not yet arrived in the country, delivery is expected to begin in May.
In addition to the direct purchase with the pharmaceutical company, 218,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine also enter Costa Rica (also in May) through the Covax mechanism of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
What would stop the agreement with AstraZeneca?
During the press conference, Salas was asked what would have to happen for Costa Rica to stop its contract with this pharmaceutical company and not use this vaccine in its population.
“There should be very conclusive studies that the risk outweighs the benefits of vaccination,” stressed the minister.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica continues its vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine.
New cases
Salas reported that Costa Rica added 480 new cases of covid-19 on Saturday, March 13; 267 on Sunday the 14th; 176 on Monday 15 and 431 on Tuesday, March 16.
The accumulated total of infect is now 210,447 (103,835 women and 106,612 men), of which 189,682 have recovered.
In the country, the are still active cases, that is people who currently have the virus.
The number of people in hospital on Tuesday was 241, of which 130 of them ar in intensive care, with an age range of 15 to 98 years.
The number of deaths related to the coronavirus has slowed down in the first months of this year, however, the virus continues to take lives. On Saturday there were five deaths, on Sunday eight, Monday six and on Tuesday five, for an accumulated total of 2,886: 1,079 women and 1,807 men, with an age range of two to 101 years.
