More regions declared Orange Alert due to spike on covid-19 cases

Published Thursday, June 25, 2020

More regions declared Orange Alert
due to spike on covid-19 cases

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

After the analysis of the epidemiological situation carried out by the Ministry of Health due to the expansion of covid-19 in the country, the National Emergency Commission expanded the Orange Alert to three more districts.

According to the authorities, the alert came into effect from midnight yesterday until further notice in Corredores District in the southern border with Panama, plus La Vega and Bonanza districts in San Carlos Canton, near the northern border with Nicaragua.

Yesterday, the Pavas District declared an Orange Alert due to the "dangerous situation, several factors that make us raise the alert: First, an increase in cases, while throughout the entire pandemic Pavas had registered 22 positive, in recent days it has added 42. Also in community surveillance operations, we have captured 6 cases in the last two weeks," said Daniel Salas, Minister of Health. "Also, the analysis of wastewater that we carried out the previous week with the collaboration of the Water Institute, which shows the presence of SARS-VOC-2 in the sewer system in the area," Salas said.

He added that Pavas is perhaps the district with the highest risk of future community transmission.

Community transmission is when there is no clear source of origin of the infection in a new community. It happens when experts can no longer identify who became infected after being exposed to someone who interacted with people from the originally infected communities.

The Orange Alert zones are now in effect for Corredores, La Vega, Bonanza, Pococí, Peñas Blancas, Los Chiles, La Fortuna, Upala, Paquera, Pavas, Alajuelita and Desamparados.

This alert stretches into commerce restrictions. Businesses will continue to be open for the public, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. The commerce restriction schedule does not apply in supermarkets, pharmacies, or small grocery stores and health services, better known as Pulperías.

The alert also affects the driving restrictions. In these Orange Alert regions, the ban on driving applies every day, Monday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. of the next day, explained Alexander Solís, president of the Commission.

The following national routes are exempt from this restriction: Route 209 between San José, Aserrí and Curridabat; Route 210 between Desamparados and Curridabat; Route 214 between San Sebastián and San Rafael in Desamparados; Route 39 known as Circunvalación; Route 27 between San José and Puntarenas; Route 1 between San José and the North zone; Route 6 between Cañas and Upala; Route 142 between Cañas, Tilarán and La Fortuna; Route 702 between San Ramón and La Fortuna; Route 18 between Abangares and Nicoya; and Route 32 Between San José and Limón.

Restrictions also apply to river accessibility from Monday to Sunday, from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. of the next day. This law applies to the rivers of Medio Queso, Frío, Tortuguero, Colorado, Sarapiquí and San Carlos.

These mandatory orders are in response to the increase in covid-19 cases in the country.

On Wednesday the ministry provided the following statistics of the status of the virus in the country:

• 147 new cases of patients infected with covid-19, bringing the total to 2,515 active cases.

• The ages of infected patients range from a three-month-old baby to a 94-year-old person.

• Of the 2,515 people infected since March, 693 are foreigners. That is equal to 27.5% of the total of patients.

• 30 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 25 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.

• 1,210 coronavirus patients have fully recovered.

• 25,797 people have been ruled out.

• 36,765 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 12 deaths have been reported from patients infected with covid-19 since March, three women and nine men.

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 482,184 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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