Unauthorized foreigners infected with covid-19

Published Monday, May 4, 2020

Unauthorized foreigners
infected with covid-19

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Two foreigners who entered the country illegally last week, are infected with covid-19, said the Ministry of Health.

The authorities did not prove the nationality of these foreigners.

The two people had been detained and sent to the cells of the Detention Center, which is located in the facilities of the Professional Migration Police in Heredia Province, said the General Directorate of Migration.

According to information provided by authorities, after both foreigners were detained, they were isolated, as part of the deportation process.

On April 30, both foreigners showed symptoms of covid-19, said the authorities in its report. The next day the covid-19 medical test was applied. Both tested positive for being infected with the virus.

"They are in stable health condition and remain in isolated areas, within the cells of the Detention Center," said the ministry of Health in its statement.

The immigration authorities are in the process of carrying out the tests to all the Center employees, as well as other foreigners who are also detained in cells facing the deportation proceedings.

Family visits for foreigners detained at the Center have been suspended since March 17, as part of the health prevention measures since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, said Migration.

According to the statistics provided by Migration on April 24, 7,326 foreigners have been denied entry into the country since the border closure went into effect on March 18.

Of these 5,337 are unauthorized foreigners detained by immigration police. The remaining 1,989 were foreigners with residency status who disregarded the strict re-entry orders put in place during the state of emergency caused by covid-19.

According to the statistics provided by the ministry of Health on Sunday, 79 foreigners are infected with covid-19 in the country. Of these, two are confirmed as undocumented immigrants. Authorities did not provide further information about the immigration status of the rest of the foreigners.

Authorities provided the following statistics related to the total cases of patients infected with the covid-19 in the country.

• An increase of six new patients infected with the covid-19, raising the total to 739 cases.

• The ages of those affected range from 1 to 87 with an average age of 37. Of those, 40 are children under the age of 13.

• There are 661 patients between the ages of 18 and 70 years old.

• There are 38 patients over the age of 70.

• 16 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 10 are in recovery rooms and 6 have been reported in intensive care with delicate health conditions. The rest of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• Of those infected, 352 are women (47%) and 387 are men (53%).

• 133 patients are employees of Social Security.

• 386 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, of these 186 women and 200 men.

• 9,046 people have been ruled out since the virus was first reported in the country in March.

So far, six deaths have been reported from patients infected with covid-19. Authorities provided the following summaries:

• On April 20, a 54-year-old Cuban man died. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 6. According to the authorities, he was linked to 81 people infected with covid-19.

• On April 19, a 69-year-old Costa Rican diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 25 died.

• On April 15, an 84-year-old Costa Rican man who had tested positive for covid-19 on April 1 was reported dead.

• On April 8, a 45-year-old Costa Rican died after being hospitalized for 10 days in intensive care at the San Juan de Dios Hospital.

• The first two patients died in March. They were hospitalized in intensive care at San Rafael Hospital in Alajuela Province, both 87-years-old.

The UNED University provides a daily updated number of patients infected in each district throughout the country at its Covid-19 Map.

As of Sunday night, the pandemic has killed 247,306 patients worldwide according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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Should authorities increase border police presence during the border closure to avoid the increase of covid-19 cases in the country? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com