Costa Rica begins this past Monday a week of closure for non-essential activities in the center of the country, as a measure to slow down the third wave of COVID-19 infections that has saturated hospitals.
Non-essential commercial establishments with attention to the public close all this week until next Sunday in the provinces of San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia, which make up the Greater Metropolitan Area.
To this measure is added the vehicle circulation restriction for plates during the week throughout May in the cantons of the central region with a schedule between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.
Sharp increase
The authorities indicated that the contagion data from this region, made up of 45 cantons, represents 68% of the cases reported the previous week (6,285 of a total of 9,120), evidencing the need to take urgent measures to flatten the contagion curve.
All public institutions in the country will apply a basic plan for the operation of in-person activities that does not exceed 20% of face-to-face personnel and will have to guarantee the operation of the customer service offices.
In addition, public transport (buses and trains) will be able to function normally, without people standing in the units, and taxis and special services for workers, tourism and students remain enabled.
Easter holiday consequences
In the first three months of the year, Costa Rica was on a plateau of new cases of around 400 a day, but after the Easter holidays, in which no restrictive measures were applied, a new wave of unseen infections has been unleashed. since the beginning of the Pandemic.
Data from the state-run Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) indicate that the occupancy of beds in intensive units for COVID-19 as of this past Sunday, May 2nd, was at a saturation level of 93.7%.
Statistics
The country has 250,991 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 3,231 deceased people, and 203,009 recovered patients. According to the latest data revealed, updated to April 26nd, Costa Rica, a country of 5 million inhabitants, had applied 818,884 doses of the vaccine to people over 58 years of age and first responders, for an application rate of 15.86 for each 100 inhabitants.
