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Published Monday, February 15, 2021
New covid-19 cases in the Americas
Continent are decreasing, says study
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new epidemiological update by the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, on covid-19 documents a 14% increase in cases and a 14% rise in deaths from Jan. 15 to Feb. 8 in the Americas Continent. This increase, however, is lower than in the period from Dec. 11 to Jan. 15.
All 56 countries and territories in the Region of the Americas have reported covid-19 cases and deaths. Of the total cumulative confirmed cases globally, 30% were notified between mid-December of 2020 and the end of January of 2021. While 30% of the deaths were reported between the beginning of December of 2020 and the end of January of 2021. From the notification of the first cases of covid-19 until Feb. 8, the regions of the Americas and Europe represent 79% of all cases and 81% of total deaths.
The full report is available on the PAHO website.
While in Costa Rica, a new shipment of vaccines against covid-19 purchased from Pfizer-BioNTech is expected to arrive this week, allowing people 58 years or older to get vaccinated, Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, said on Feb. 3 in a hearing before the deputies of the Vaccination Commission to address advancements in the vaccination campaign.
This is the second group of pre-selected people to receive the vaccine, including those over the age of 58, regardless of whether or not they have any risk factors. It is estimated the treatment will be applied to 867,000 people, pending that the vaccine shipments arrive on Feb. 15.
Social Security called on people who qualify in the second group, to visit the local public clinic, known as Ebais, to be registered. People will be contacted by phone to register for a vaccine date. To receive the treatment, participants must have a Costa Rican ID for natives or a residency ID, known as DIMEX specific for immigrants with resident status.
Social Security is currently still inoculating the first group. This includes the elderly who live in nursing homes, nursing home employees, healthcare workers, members of the police force, firefighters, National Commission Emergency workers among other first responders.
On Jan. 23, Minister Salas announced that the Pfizer vaccine delay is "due to the adjustments they are making to increase the number of vaccines, there will be a gap in the shipment."
While the vaccination campaign advances, authorities from the Ministry of Health reported on Friday the most updated status of the covid-19 public health crisis in the country:
• 75,113 doses of covid-19 vaccines have been applied. Reaching a national vaccination rate of 1.45 per 100 inhabitants.
• 431 new covid-19 cases are reported, bringing the total to 35,527 current active cases.
• 24,631 foreign-born people have been infected as part of the 199,187 cases since March, approximately 12.3% of the total cases. Of these, authorities confirmed the death of 32 foreign-born patients. But since October, there is no updated information about foreign-born deaths due to covid-19.
• 350 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 182 patients are in ICU’s in delicate health conditions. Their ages range from 1 to 93-years-old. And 182 patients are in recovery rooms. Many of the remaining infected patients are quarantined in their homes.
• 160,946 patients have fully recovered, an 81% recovery rate of the total cases since March.
• 629,031covid-19 tests have been conducted in Costa Rica since March, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering of Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.
• 2,714 deaths are listed as covid-19 related, approximately 1.4% death rate. Of these 1,022 are women and 1,692 men. The ages range from a 2-year-old to a 101-year-old.
Readers can see the current number of infected people in each district on the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has killed more than 2.4 million people worldwide.
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How could Social Security speed-up the covid-19 diagnostic medical test? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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