The updated numbers of patients affected by coronavirus in Costa Rica comes up to 87, 18 new cases in the last 24 hours according to official information provided during press conference today by the Ministry of Health.

One of the new cases is a person from the province of Limon, which means the virus has reached 6 out of the 7 provinces of Costa Rica, the province of Puntarenas is the only one with no reported cases.

Since yesterday evening, authorities ordered the closure of gyms, sports facilities, pools and churches. Religious evens can only be held in a limited manner when required (funerals for example) and keeping all the necessary precautions.

In addition to this, theaters and movie theaters will have to close during this weekend, while shopping centers and restaurants must continue to attend the regulations given by health authorities to maintain only a 50% capacity and ensure proper disinfection of areas.

Out of the 87 patients, 52 are men and 35 are women, 79 are Costa Rican while 8 are foreigners, 7 are senior citizens and 7 minors.

The country closed since midnight last night its borders, only Costa Rican citizens and legal residents are allowed to enter the country but they must remain isolated for a period of 14 days, each person is asked to fill in several forms and include their address and phone numbers, they receive guidelines on some of the measures they must take which include avoiding direct contact with family members and roommates, they are also informed that in the event of not attending the sanitary order they are subject to fines and other legal consequences.
The first death by Covid-19 was reported yesterday afternoon, the patient was an 87-year-old doctor who apparently contracted the virus in Panama, his wife and one of his daughters were also diagnosed with the virus.

A total of 951 people tested negative.

Daniel Salas, Minister of Health insisted that people must react, take things seriously and stay at home to prevent a higher number of cases. He also warned that the pandemic curve could continue for a period of 8 to 12 weeks.