Costa Rica on Friday reported 1,656 new coronavirus cases, the second-highest figure since the pandemic began in the Central American country. The number of infections is surpassed only by last Thursday, when Costa Rica registered 1,776 new cases.
As of Friday, 286 people with Covid-19 are hospitalized at intensive care units across Costa Rica’s public and private hospitals. This also represents the highest tally during the pandemic.
The saturation of beds in rural hospitals has forced the Social Security System (Caja) to conduct at least 160 patient transfers to the San José area. In total, 641 people are hospitalized.
“We are operating at our limit. We are approaching the maximum quantity [of ICU beds] available,” the Caja reported through social media.
Costa Rica has reported 3,136 total deaths related to Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
Authorities have reestablished weekend driving restrictions but otherwise have announced no new measures to control the recent spike.
The official site for coronavirus measures in Costa Rica is: https://presidencia.go.cr/alertas.
