Published Tuesday, May 19, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Daniel Salas the Minister of Health virtually represented the country during the 73rd World Health Assembly that took place on Monday. In this meeting, he focused on the actions led by the World Health Organization, WHO, to tackle the covid-19 pandemic.


During his speech, Minister Salas recognized WHO's technical and political leadership, but he made a call on the need to go one step further and to concentrate on technology, knowledge and possible inputs in universal access of covid-19 advancement patents, so that all countries can make use of the information.

“This pandemic is going to last many more months, and this mechanism, which allows an altruistic attitude so that we can all get ahead in the middle of the covid-19, is extremely necessary, not only for a health issue but even for an humanitarian issue,” Salas said.

Salas called for global solidarity in contributing covid-19 innovations and research. He encouraged researchers to voluntarily share their experiences and scientific conclusions to combat covid- 19.

The assembly usually meets in Geneva, Switzerland, in May of each year with the assistance of delegations of the Member States. Its main goal is to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, review and adopt the proposed budget.

As far as testing goes, according to Social Security, in Costa Rica there are 500 medical centers to apply free testing for covid-19 to patients showing symptoms. These places include public hospitals, local and public clinics, and border entry posts.

According to WHO, covid-19 affects certain people in different ways. In the country, the majority infected will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough, and tiredness. Less common symptoms are aches, pain, sore throat, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, headaches, loss of taste or smell, a rash on the skin, or discoloration of fingers or toes. The more common serious symptoms are difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, loss of speech or movement.


On Monday afternoon the Ministry of Health reported three more covid-19 infected patients in Costa Rica, reaching 281 active cases. Active patients are people who currently have the virus.

Authorities provided the following statistics related to the development of the covid-19 in the country:

• Of the 866 infected since the first case was detected in March, 575 coronavirus patients have fully recovered.

• The ages of those affected range from six months to 87 with an average age of 37. During the weekend one 6-months-old baby tested positive with the virus.

• 17 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 14 are in recovery rooms and 3 have been reported in an Intensive Care Unit, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 140 foreigners infected, of these 27 entered the country unauthorized and are jailed in the facilities of the Professional Migration Police in Heredia Province.

• 46 foreigners working as truck drivers transporting merchandise,  were rejected to the enter the country because they tested positive for covid-19.

• 13,684 people have been ruled out.

• 20,352 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 10 deaths have been reported from patients infected with covid-19 since March 18.


The updated number of total patients in each district can be reached at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Monday night, the pandemic has killed 315,213 patients worldwide according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.







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