Published Tuesday, April 14, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

During the recently concluded Easter Week, from April 5 to 12, 1,200 foreigners left the country despite the fact that authorities confirmed an increase in cases of patients infected with covid-19, taking the total to 612.

According to the Ministry of Security, the departure of the country from foreigners during Easter was smaller than in previous years when up to 17,000 exits have been registered.

In addition, during Holy week, 930 foreigners entering through immigration posts were rejected, said the ministry.

Among the people who entered the country during Easter, was the case of a Costa Rican man arrested for alleged money laundering on Saturday night.


According to the police report, a man surnamed Agüero was traveling by taxi from Peñas Blancas district  in the northern zone near the Nicaraguan border to the La Cruz district in Guanacaste Province.

The taxi transporting Agüero drove up to a police checkpoint located in the La Cruz area, where he was stopped for a routine vehicle check, said the police in its report.

The checkpoint was a collaboration between Border Police, Traffic Police, Police Intervention Unit among other police body forces who were present that night, said the ministry.

Officers found two plastic bags filled with cash among his belongings. According to the police, one bag carried 3,705,000 colones (about $6,530), and the other bag had 1,921,000 colones (about $3,386).

The man was unable to clearly justify the source of the cash.

Following the Guanacaste Prosecutor's order, the man was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and brought before the Public Ministry of that province.

The government has ordered stricter traffic measures since March 24, resulting in 8,413 fines to drivers for breaking the ban on the driving rule, according to police reports.


Despite the measures ordered by the government to contain the expansion of covid-19, on Monday afternoon the Ministry of Health confirmed an increase of 17 new patients infected with the virus, taking the total to 612 cases in the country.

Of the infected patients, 20 are being treated in public hospitals, where 14 of them have been reported in intensive care with delicate health conditions.

The patients' ages range from 1 to 87 with an average age of 38. Of those, 24 are children under the age of 13, 557 are between 18 and 70 years old, and 31 are elder patients over the age of 70.

Of those infected, 295 are women (48%) and 317 are men (52%). It was reported 43 foreigners are infected. Authorities stopped informing about the specific nationality of those patients.

It is reported that 62 coronavirus patients have fully recovered. Three patients died.

The latest death reported this month was a 45-year-old Costa Rican who entered the country from the U.S. in March, where it is presumed that he was infected. He was hospitalized for 10 days in the intensive care unit of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San José.

The two other patients died in March. They were hospitalized in intensive care at San Rafael Hospital in Alajuela Province, both 87-years-old.

Since the virus was first reported in the country on March 6, 256 people have been ruled out.


For a daily updated number of patients infected throughout the country, visit the Covid-19 map of the UNED University.

As of today 1,918,855 people have been confirmed infected worldwide. The pandemic has killed 119,588 patients and 448,655 patients made a full recovery, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.



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Should the government order severe preventive measures to avoid a continued spreading of covid-19 in the country?    We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com