Published Friday, May 22, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Authorities from Costa Rica and Panama reached an agreement to authorize the entry of merchandise containers as long as sanitary guidelines are maintained, announced the Ministry of Foreign Trade on Thursday.

According to the Ministry, the same proposal was presented to the Central American authorities to reduce protesting by truck drivers at both the Nicaragua and Panama border posts.

"For the protection of health in Costa Rica, we have proposed to the governments of the region a new strategy for the management of merchandise container carriers, through a system that would allow us to protect their movements and transfers, to avoid possible covid-19 infections," said Daniel Salas, Minister of Health. "We call for regional solidarity because we are facing an atypical situation, which requires innovative solutions.”

According to the ministry’s plan, the country will allow foreign carriers to enter through the border posts with conditions. Trailers must enter a fiscal warehouse area where the merchandise will be transferred to Costa Ricans truck drivers. Then, the container will be carried through a controlled route and escorted with police to the next border post. Once there the container will be transferred to another trailer to continue to its final destination.

"It was urgent to find a balanced solution because without trade, there is no health and without health, there is no trade," said Dyalá Jiménez, Minister of Foreign Trade.

However, truck drivers in Panama refuse to follow the plan because of lack of clarity, reported the Panamanian newscast TVN Noticias on Thursday.

According to the report, Manuel Levigion, representative of Panama's transport companies, will not stop the protest and blockade at the Panama border until their government announces the negotiation that was agreed with Costa Rica.

Although Costa Rica reached an agreement with Panama, problems continue at the northern border with Nicaragua.

On Thursday afternoon, authorities confirmed 46 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 them in quarantine at an isolation center in Costa Rica.


Although the country is taking precautionary measures, health authorities reported on Thursday afternoon 301 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 903 infected since the first case was detected in March, 592 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.

• 12 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 9 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.

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

• 14,387 people have been ruled out.

• 21,929 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

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



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 332,876 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 Central American governments reach an agreement regarding merchandise container transport during the pandemic? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com