Costa Rica coronavirus updates for Friday, October 9 :

Costa Rica announced 15 new coronavirus-related deaths over the past day for a total of 1,055, according to official data released Friday afternoon by the Health Ministry.

Five-hundred and sixty-six people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19; 197 are in intensive care.

The Health Ministry confirmed 1,225 new cases, of which 903 were identified via a lab test, for a cumulative total of 86,053.

A total of 52,327 people have been cleared as recovered; however, this figure does not include about a month’s worth of patients, according to health authorities.

The data indicate Costa Rica has 20.7 COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 people. The country is averaging 15.9 deaths each day since September 1 (619 total), including double-digit deaths for 27 straight days.

Costa Rica has 359 intensive-care beds and 986 beds for less-complex coronavirus hospitalizations. This means 55% of Costa Rica’s ICU beds are currently occupied.

Costa Rica’s outbreak in a global context

Costa Rica has the 11th-most new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, according to data compiled by The New York Times.

About 1.2% of people who tested positive for the coronavirus in Costa Rica have died. The deaths comprise 353 adults and 702 elderly adults.

The below graph shows Costa Rica’s approximate test-positivity rate (the fraction of tests that come back positive) as of Tuesday, October 5. The Tico Times calculates daily positivity using Health Ministry data as follows:

(People testing positive) ÷ (People testing positive + people testing negative)

Note that the actual number of daily tests is higher than indicated on the chart, because one person can be tested multiple times.

The World Health Organization recommends testing enough to keep the positivity rate under 5%; Costa Rica’s high test-positivity rate suggests it’s missing milder or asymptomatic cases, allowing the coronavirus to continue to spread.