Data from the Consular Department of the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry indicated that as of this Friday 28 nationals have lost their lives due to the Coronavirus. The Costa Rican colony in the United States reports the worst affectation by the novel Coronavirus but also those living in Europe have suffered negative effects. Foreign Relations also indicated that 117 Costa Ricans have been reported as infections abroad.
Returning home amid Coronavirus
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that during the pandemic, 9,208 people were also assisted in returning to Costa Rica. The help in these cases was almost always logistical, coordinating the few flights available at the beginning of the crisis, especially due to the closure of borders.
Central America, Mexico, and the United States were the main destinations from which hundreds of Costa Ricans returned both by air and by land. Requests for help, however, came from all over the world, from places as dissimilar as Seychelles, Guinea-Bissau, or China.
A humanitarian issue
When the requests for help began, the authorities were clear that the lack of resources did not allow economic assistance to citizens who were caught by COVID-19 abroad. However, special conditions of vulnerability did allow comprehensive assistance to return Costa Ricans from places like China, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. In the other cases the value of the rescue flights was completed, a method that allowed the repatriation of several citizens, for example, from El Salvador.
