Published Thursday, May 21, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

After having exceeded fundraising goals for testing machines and kits for covid-19 detection during the campaign "Proactive Testing Covid-19 in Costa Rica" the three organizations delivered the donations to Social Security.

The Costa Rican American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Costa Rican USA Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA) and the Business Development Alliance (AED) donated 70 GeneXpert test machines and 15,743 test kits, which meet the needs and requirements of Social Security.

This is the first delivery of supplies made by organizations with the funds obtained from the campaign. The rest of the machines and test kits that were purchased are expected to arrive in the country in the next eight weeks.

According to AmCham, the equipment will allow Social Security to increase its capacity to carry out medical diagnostic tests for the virus throughout the country.

The equipment was acquired thanks to the support of more than 440 donors, between companies and individuals, who managed to raise more than $1.8 million.

According to Social Security, the equipment will be installed in the public clinics of the communities of Los Santos, Puriscal, Acosta and the National Rehabilitation Center.

"We hope that the implementation of this high technology allows the government to initiate, in parallel, a reactivation of the economy," said Gisela Sánchez, president of AmCham. "Proactive testing is indispensable to be able to reopen the country.”

The alliance established between AmCham, AED and CRUSA will continue to develop new opportunities for collaboration to create more favorable conditions to reactivation of the country's economic activities, said AmCham in its statement.

On April 29, AmCham announced the campaign goal to buy 40 machines and almost 30,000 test kits. But donations from companies and members of the chamber exceeded the initial goal of $750,000 and reached $1,808,387.

The Testing Costa Rica campaign information can be found on the CRUSA website.


Regarding the advancement of covid-19 in the country, health authorities reported on Wednesday afternoon 305 active cases. Active patients are those who currently have the virus.

Authorities provided the following statistics of the evolution of the virus in the country:

• Of the 897 infected since the first case was detected in March, 582 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 a 6-months-old baby tested positive with the virus.

• 13 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 8 are in recovery rooms and 5 have been reported in an Intensive Care Unit, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

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

• On Wednesday, 50 foreigners working as truck drivers transporting merchandise were rejected to enter the country because they tested positive for covid-19.

However, four of these foreigners were not received by Nicaraguan authorities because they were not Nicaraguan citizens. For that reason, the Costa Rican authorities decided to place these foreigners in quarantine at an isolation center in Costa Rica.

• 14,225 people have been ruled out.

• 21,299 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 Wednesday night, the pandemic has killed 328,079 patients worldwide according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.




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Should Social Security continue to announce the balance of received donations to address the pandemic?   We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com