Costa Rica coronavirus updates for Thursday, October 8 :

Costa Rica announced 16 new coronavirus-related deaths over the past day for a total of 1,040, according to official data released Thursday afternoon by the Health Ministry.

Five-hundred and sixty-eight people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19; 197 are in intensive care, a decrease compared to Wednesday.

The Health Ministry confirmed 1,331 new cases, of which 992 were identified via a lab test, for a cumulative total of 84,828.

A total of 51,782 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 20.4 COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 people. The country is averaging 15.9 deaths each day since September 1 (604 total), including double-digit deaths for 26 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 12th-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 338 adults and 686 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.