News briefs: Costa Rica news highlights to start your week
Happy Monday from The Tico Times!
We hope you’re reading this while drinking a delicious Costa Rican coffee or eating a traditional gallo pinto. Here’s the Costa Rica (and regional) news you should know as a new week begins.
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The Presidency has drafted a 2021 budget that includes $250 million in cuts compared to this year. The cuts would be distributed most significantly among the ministries of Education, Public Works and Transportation, Labor, Health, and Treasury. The proposal has been sent to the Legislative Assembly for debate; it comes in context of a financial crisis caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic.
Costa Rica’s health system isn’t properly addressing cases of “long Covid,” according to La Nación. Neither the Health Ministry nor the Social Security System know how many patients are struggling with persistent symptoms, though CCSS President Román Macaya says reports of these patients “worries us a lot.”
The National Trauma Hospital celebrated the discharge of recovered coronavirus patients — the last COVID-19 cases that they will host for the time being. The development comes as coronavirus hospitalizations have stabilized; fewer economic restrictions have also resulted in an increase in car accidents, which the Trauma Hospital will once again treat.
The Environment Ministry “regrets the approval” of a trawling law that opens the door for the return of the controversial fishing method in Costa Rican waters. Trawling “generates greater pressure on ecosystems and resources that are already overexploited,” a statement from the Environment Ministry said. Read more.
Oatmeal won the 5th annual Sloth Ironman Games, hosted by the Toucan Rescue Ranch. Click here to watch the (adorable) awards ceremony.
Tropical Storm Zeta has formed in the Caribbean Sea near the Yucatan Peninsula. It is the 27th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season to date and earliest forming 27th Atlantic named storm on record, per meteorologist Philip Klotzbach.
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We’ll have more news throughout the day, so keep checking The Tico Times home page for more.
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