Starting this week, the Government of Costa Ricalifted the restriction on the movement of vehicles that was in force at dawn, with which commercial activities begin to operate practically as normal prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The restriction on the circulation of vehicles was in force between 00:00 and 5:00 throughout the country and as of this past Monday it has been lifted, as has the impediment to commercial premises to operate at that time.
“As of today, the sanitary vehicle restriction is eliminated throughout Costa Rica. This is possible thanks to the reduction in infections and hospitalizations, as a result of the intense vaccination campaign that continues to be promoted,” President Carlos Alvarado said on his social networks.
The President thanked “the understanding of the majority of the population” towards the measures that were taken during the pandemic and urged to complete the vaccination scheme.
Steps towards “normality”
For a few weeks, Costa Rica has been taking steps towards “normality”, even with massive soccer, music and cultural festivals.The last of them was the Sabores Bavaria gastronomic festival, where hundreds of people attended the event over the weekend to taste food and drinks and enjoy a concert by the Philharmonic Orchestra.
Last week it was the turn of the Mexican musical group Los Angeles Azules, which gathered thousands of people in two concerts, something similar to what happened a week before with the Mexican singer Cristian Nodal, who filled his concert.
On March 18th and 19th, the Coldplay band will give two concerts at the National Stadium at 100% capacity.The football matches already had an audience, but from this March the capacity allowed will be 100%.
The qualifying matches for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, on March 24th and 30th against Canada and the United States, respectively, will have a full capacity at the National Stadium.In all these events, the authorities continue to request hygienic measures and the use of the mask.
The Pandemic In Figures
Costa Rica, a country of 5.1 million inhabitants, registered its first case of Covid-19 on March 6th, 2020 and two years later it accumulates 817,538 cases and 8,121 deaths.
The fourth wave of infections, which began last January due to the omicron variant, has been declining at a rate of more than 20% per week in the number of cases in recent weeks, although there is still a significant number of people hospitalized and daily deaths.
This past Monday the authorities recorded 820 new cases, 8 deaths and there are 819 people hospitalized, of which 105 are in intensive care units.Official vaccination data indicate that coverage with the first dose reaches 81.3% of the country’s total population, with the second dose 74.1% and with the third dose 25.7%.
