Costa Rica sets record for number of hospitalized in its worst moment of the pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Costa Rican authorities counted this Wednesday 1,123 people hospitalized by covid-19, of which 405 are in intensive care units, in what becomes the worst moment of the pandemic in the Central American country, which has its medical centers saturated.

Wednesday’s daily report indicates that the country added 2,555 new cases, the third-highest number so far in the pandemic and only the fourth time in which the barrier of 2,000 infections in one day has been surpassed. In addition, 16 deaths were reported on Wednesday.

In the first three months of 2021, this country was on a plateau of about 400 cases per day but is currently facing a third wave of infections after the Easter vacations. The authorities did not establish restrictions, and large numbers of people were observed in tourist sites.

Since the beginning of the second half of April, Costa Rica began to register numbers above 1,000 cases per day and peaked at 2,434 cases on Wednesday 28th; 2,781 on Thursday 29th and 2,609 on Friday 30th, and today has returned to that range with 2,555 cases per day.

The 1,123 people hospitalized are the highest number so far in the pandemic, and the 405 people in intensive care units this Wednesday.

The president of the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS), Román Macaya, and the institution’s medical manager, Mario Ruiz, said earlier in the day that the country’s hospital capacity was at capacity and that efforts are being made to provide more spaces for patients with covid, as the situation is critical.

According to Macaya, 20% of the country’s hospital network beds are occupied by covid-19 patients.

According to CCSS data, patients are being transferred every 24 minutes on average due to their level of complexity in recent days. There are even waiting lists of people who need to move to a more advanced level of care.

In an attempt to bend this curve, the Government established a closure of non-essential public service activities between May 3 and 9 in the center of the country, where the main cities are located and where the largest number of cases of this new wave of contagions have been registered.

According to experts, due to the incubation period of the virus, the results of this measure will not be seen for a couple of weeks.

On Monday, May 3, a total of 950,252 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered in this country of 5 million inhabitants. A total of 345,153 people have complete vaccination schedules, i.e., they have received both doses.

The national rate of vaccination against covid-19 is 18.40 per 100 inhabitants.

The country has accumulated 260,535 cases and 3,326 deaths during the pandemic.