At 6PM Sunday night, the Government of Costa Rica announced it had declared a Yellow Alert for the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. As of that time, the Ministry of Health declared nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus, and 34 suspected cases. Of those confirmed cases, three are Americans, and six are Costa Ricans. This is an increase of five cases, just since Saturday night at 9PM.

The Yellow Alert came after a summit between Health Ministry officials and the Comision National de Emergencias (CNE), National Commission of Emergencies. The Costa Rican Health Ministry has been planning for this possibility for several months, and protocols had already been put into place to combat an escalation in the number or intensity of cases presented to health officials.

Said Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, and Alexander Solis, President of CNE, “Since January we have been working with the Health Ministry to coordinate inter-institutional actions for emergency activities, and it is a result of these plans that we made the decision to call a Yellow Alert, which will bring into play all mechanisms and institutions vital to combating this virus.”
The public is hereby advised to limit travel as much as possible, to avoid possible contamination in airports or on airplanes, especially regarding international travel, specifically to China, Italy, South Korea, or other destinations where COVID-19 has been reported.

The current illness statistics are as follows: 1. Woman, 49yo, American; 2. Man, 49yo, American; 3. Man, 54yo, Tico, in fragile condition; 4. Woman, 73yo, Tica, had contact with the 54yo; Woman, 5. 41yo, Tica, had contact with the 54yo man; 6. Woman, 54yo, had contact with 54yo man; 7. Woman, 56yo, Tica, had contact with man 54yo; 8. Man, 54yo, Tico, had contact with 54yo Tico; 9. Woman, 70yo, American, Costa Rican resident who had passed through airport twice recently visiting USA.
Said Salas, “We urge all citizens to follow suggested preventive measures: wash hands, cough/sneeze into tissue or elbow, do not kiss or shake hands for greeting, avoid large public events, especially if you have symptoms.”

The Star will continue to monitor progress of COVID-19 in upcoming days

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