The authorities of the Costa Rican National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention (CNE) and the Ministry of Tourism reiterated the call for citizens to remain alert and continue the application of health protocols, given the increase in the number of infections by COVID -19 nationwide between March 8th and 21th.
During the previous week, 49 cantons of all the provinces of Costa Rica showed an increase in the cases of new positives. At the national level, 2,809 infections were recorded for an increase of 20% when compared to the week between March 1st and 7th, when 2,347 infections were reported.
A clear increase detected
Due to this increase, the authorities called on the population not to lower their guard in the application of health protocols. “We express our concern about the increase in new cases in most cantons, we have identified that 49 cantons have shown an increase in infections, so we call on the population not to relax health measures, especially not to break the social bubbles and use the mask”, commented Alexander Solís, President of the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Care.
Given the increase in cases present in the update of the epidemiological analysis carried out by the National Situation Analysis Room, the CNE determined to raise the alert level to orange in the cantons of San José, Santa Ana, Alajuelita, Dota, Pérez Zeledón, Atenas, Poás, Sarchí, El Guarco, Montes de Oro and Talamanca.
When counting the cases of these 11 cantons, an increase is shown, going from 469 cases reported in the first week of March, to counting 642 infected during the previous week. That is, an increase of 37% in a matter of 15 days. The most notorious case is that of Pérez Zeledón,
canton with 35 new positives at the beginning of the month and that in the last update reported 109 infections. In total, 20 cantons will close the month of March with an orange alert.
Five cantons go down to yellow alert
Alajuela, Belén, Flores, Parrita and Limón go down to yellow alert thanks to the stabilization in the level of contagion in those cantons. For example, Alajuela has reduced the level of contagion to an average of 180 cases per week during this month, while at the beginning of the year the data exceeded 400 infections.
The five cantons that go on yellow alert show slight reductions in their infections, so the authorities indicated that this reduction in the level of risk is positive news but that prevention work in the communities must be maintained to avoid outbreaks. As of this Wednesday, March 24th, the new changes in cantonal alerts will govern in which 62 cantons will be in yellow and 20 in orange.
