The U.S. and China governments donate supplies due to the covid-19 crisis

Published Monday, March 30, 2020

The U.S. and China governments donate supplies due to the covid-19 crisis

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

On Friday the U.S. government delivered the first of two donations to Social Security due to the increase of patients infected with the coronavirus covid-19 in the country.

According to the U.S. Embassy, the donation is made through a Southern Command, SOUTHCOM, humanitarian assistance program.

The donation valued at $75,000 consists of personal protective equipment purchased from local suppliers in Costa Rica, such as surgical masks, isolation gowns, surgical gloves, goggles, and N-95 medical masks.

In the next two weeks, the second donation of supplies will be delivered to Social Security, according to the U.S. Embassy.

Last week, on March 23, the Chinese government announced the donation of medical supplies to Social Security through the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation.

This donation consists of medical supplies, such as surgical masks, covid-19 coronavirus detection test kits and five CPAP machines with a hose and mask or nosepiece for constant and steady air pressure.

This equipment was exported from China on Monday, it is expected to arrive in the country within the next few days.

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

In the latest report released on Sunday, authorities from the Social Security confirmed 19 new cases rising to a total of 314 patients in the country.

Of those patients, 19 are being treated in public hospitals, six of them have been reported in very delicate health conditions and are kept in intensive care.

The patient’s ages range from 1 to 87 with an average age of 40. Of those patients, 12 are children under the age of 13, 280 are between 18 and 70 years old, and 22 are elder patients over the age of 70.

Of those infected, 150 are women (48%) and 164 are men (52%). It was reported 290 infected cases are Costa Ricans and 24 are foreigners.

The virus has spread throughout all the provinces, with cases reported in 51 cantons.

Three coronavirus patients are announced fully recovered. Two of those were U.S. citizens who were reported to have left the country.

Eight patients are already in the process of receiving results from their latest medical tests hoping to be cleared and classified as fully recovered from the virus, as well as not being a threat to the public.

Since the virus was detected in the country in the first week of March, 3,115 people have been ruled out.

Social Security confirmed five private labs are making 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.

These laboratories support the four Social Security labs that are already carrying out tests 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. The institute is in the process of purchasing 10,750 new medical test supplies.

As of today, the pandemic has killed 34,998 people around the world, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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What are the emergency measures in your country to reduce the spread of coronavirus covid-19? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com