Costa Rica registered 52 new cases of Covid-19 for a total 1,157 confirmed cases; this includes 542 women and 615 men; 913 Costa Rican and 244 foreigners.

The youngest patient is a 5-day-old premature baby while the oldest patient is an 89 year-old man.

685 patients have already recovered. The number of deaths remains at 10.

21 people are hospitalized, 5 of them in the intensive care unit, including the newborn baby.

Due to the increase in the number of cases and the majority of these being located in the northern area of the country, the government has informed of additional driving restrictions will go into place in several areas in the northern zone of Costa Rica, no vehicular traffic will be allowed between 5:00pm and 5:00am during weekdays, this includes the counties of La Cruz, Guatuso, Upala, Los Chiles and Rio Cuarto, as well as the districts of Cariari (Pococi), Peñas Blancas (San Ramón), Cañas and Bebedero (Cañas), Las Juntas (Abangares), among others. In these areas the only businesses allowed to operate during the weekend include supermarkets, pharmacies and hospitals.

The idea is to contain the transmission and flatten the transmission curve while at the same time containing the collateral effects.

“Some counties are more vulnerable to the transmission of COVID-19 due to their proximity or connection to the borders, specially the northern border with Nicaragua. For this reason, it is necessary to establish particular measures to decrease the exposure and propagation in those areas”, commented Daniel Salas, Minister of Health.