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Published Friday, March 27, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The guidelines for identifying the body and funeral ceremony procedures of a patient who dies from coronavirus covid-19 has changed, announced the Social Security authorities on Thursday.

As was previously reported, two patients hospitalized in the intensive care room of the San Rafael Hospital in Alajuela Province, both 87-year-old seniors, have died due to the coronavirus covid-19.

Due to the risk of contagious effects to relatives, friends or even funeral company representatives, the authorities decided that only one person will be able to see the body of the deceased patient to recognize it and carry out the funeral ceremony procedure.

The new procedure established are:

- One authorized person will see the body at the morgue. The deceased patient's body will be inside a transparent bag to make identification easier. The body cannot be touched.

- After the body has been recognized, it will be protected inside a second dark bag. Then representatives of the funeral company must seal the coffin. It cannot be opened before or during the funeral ceremony.

- The person must be buried or cremated within a maximum period of 24 hours after being declared dead.

According to Social Security, the new funeral guideline for those who died of the coronavirus covid-19 is explained to relatives, friends and representatives of funeral companies.

The cases of those infected with coronavirus covid-19 continue rising in Costa Rica.

In the latest report released on Thursday morning, authorities from the ministry confirmed 30 new cases rising to a total of 231 patients in the country.

Of the 231 patients, six are being treated in public hospitals. However, five of them have been reported in very delicate health conditions and are kept in intensive care.

The patient’s ages range from 2 to 87 with an average age of 41. Of those eight patients are children under the age of 13, 204 are between 18 and 70 years old, and 19 are elder patients over the age of 70.

Of those infected, 101 are women (43%) and 130 are men (57%). It was reported 213 infected cases are Costa Ricans and 18 are foreigners.

The virus has spread throughout all the provinces, with cases reported in 41 cantons.

Two coronavirus survivors are U.S. citizens. It is reported that they left the country.

Eight patients are already in the process of performing the latest medical test to be classified as fully recovered from the virus and not be a threat to the public.

Since the virus was detected in the country, in the first week of March, 2,331 people have been ruled out.


Five more labs are now available to make the covid-19 test.

Laboratories LABIN, Páez, San José, Hospital Metropolitano and Clínica Bíblica have received the endorsement of the Ministry of Health to carry out medical tests to confirm or rule out infection with the coronavirus covid-19, authorities confirmed on Thursday.

The goal is that these new laboratories support the four Social Security labs that are already carrying out tests. Coronavirus covid-19 lab tests are given at Hospital San Juan de Dios, Hospital Mexico, National Children's Hospitals and the Institute for Research INCIENSA.

According to information provided by Social Security, in the case of the INCIENSA, there are sufficient supplies to carry out 3,800 tests in the country. Although the institute is in the process of purchasing 10,750 new medical test supplies.


As of today, the pandemic has killed 24,883 people around the world, according to recent statistics reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.