Published Wednesday, May 20, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Council of Ministers of Central American Economic Integration requested for the government to suspend the control measure banning the entry of foreign truck drivers, announced the Ministry of Foreign Trade on Tuesday.

The government ban on the entry of Central American inter-country truck deliveries was ordered with the goal of protecting and safeguarding public health due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Truck drivers are currently allowed to enter into the facilities at the Costa Rican ports of entry, but that is as far as they can go. Truck drivers must leave the container with merchandise, and return to their original departed country. Once the cargo is released from the driver, a Costa Rican transport company will carry the container to the final importer in the country or to the next border post, where another foreign truck driver will continue with the route.

The strict regulations are only in place for cargo deliveries within the country. If a truck driver is only crossing the border to get to Nicaragua or Panama without any deliveries, they can cross with their cargo.

The regulation allows the entry of foreign truck drivers to the country, as long as they are traveling from border to border without having to unload merchandise within the country.

In that case, the truck will be in police custody while intra-country traveling from border to border.

At the request of the Central American ministers, the government announced it will analyze the proposals to ease the merchandise containers' transport in the country.

However, cases of foreign truck drivers infected with covid-19 continue to be registered, announced Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, on Tuesday .

Authorities reported 50 foreign truck drivers infected with the virus that were detected at the borders.

"The risk is so high that only one of those cases infected 18 people," the ministry said.

Despite the fact that these foreigners have been rejected at the borders, 11 drivers had entered the country before the new restrictions.

"The data makes the sanitary measure evident and urgent. We are committed to the well-being of Costa Ricans. We will take whatever measures are necessary for this protection," Salas said. "Clearly, it is not our intention to cut regional trade, therefore I appreciate the valuable work that the Ministry of Foreign Trade is leading in dialogue with the Central American countries, in order to advance solutions."

According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the government has not closed the borders or closed the dialogue with the authorities of the Central American countries.


Regarding the advancement of covid-19 in the country, health authorities reported on Tuesday that the virus remains under control with only 295 active cases. Active patients are people who currently have the virus.

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

• Of the 882 infected since the first case was detected in March, 577 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.

• 18 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 13 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.

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

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

• 13,806 people have been ruled out.

•  20,741 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 322, 821 patients worldwide according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.







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