During the Pandemic that hits the entire world, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, assured through a national radio and television transmission in that country that, “Costa Rica gave a false impression that it has flattened the curve, but only the number of daily tests has decreased.”
This accusation has created tension between these two Central American countries. The Salvadoran President has been known for always being in the eye of the hurricane in political controversy for his raw comments. This time he is back in the public arena after questioning the low number of infections detected in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica has the lowest COVID-19 mortality rate in the American continent
It is important to highlight that Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the American continent that has managed to maintain the COVID-19 contagion curve. In addition to having more cases recovered by Coronavirus than active cases.
With this comment, the Salvadoran President disparages the effort that Costa Rica has taken to combat COVID-19 with effective measures, that has allowed the number of infections to be reduced considerably in the last month, with less than 10 per day, after being the first Central American country to detect cases of Coronavirus.
For his part, Foreign Minister Rodolfo Solano stated: “Costa Rica expresses its concern at the statements of the President of the Republic of El Salvador, in which he referred to the practices and standards that Costa Rica carries out for the application of tests for detection of COVID-19 “.
Likewise, Foreign Minister Solano announced that he contacted the Salvadoran ambassador, Ana Patricia Pineda, to express his “concern” about President Bukele’s protests.
It should be noted that the Costa Rican strategy for screening for COVID-19 is based on the identification of suspected cases and applying the Coronavirus tests, about 200 per day. Meanwhile, its neighbor El Salvador has opted for massive tests, more than 1,000 in some days.
Costa Rica, with 5 million inhabitants, detected its first Coronavirus case on March 5th and since has registered 761 cases, including 6 deaths. In contrast, El Salvador, with 6.6 million inhabitants, detected its first case on March 13th and accumulates 587 cases and 14 deaths.
Costa Rica currently continues to fully comply with the health recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has applied measures that have been effective in flattening the contagion curve.
One of these measures taken in time was the closure of the borders as soon as the first cases of infection were detected. In addition to the social quarantine and the closure of educational centers at all levels, as well as vehicle circulation restrictions. This has made it the country in the American continent with the fewest deaths from COVID-19.
Currently, the voluntary confinement has begun to be gradually lifted and as of May 1st, some places began to reopen at medium capacities, such as restaurants, gyms, theaters, among others. Always respecting sanitary measures, such as the mandatory use of face masks and social distancing.
