Official sources confirm a total of 13 patients that are currently infected with coronavirus in Costa Rica, however, the list of suspicious cases continues to grow, currently with 179 people under observation and testing.

The Ministry of Health confirmed they are investigating 175 people that had direct contact with a 54 year-old man that is positive for Covid-19 and was working at the Alajuela Hospital. In addition to these 175, there are also 3 Japanese tourists who were visiting the northern zone of the country.

The samples for all these patients are being processed by Inciensa, the national lab in charge of processing the samples, the high number of suspicious patients already surpasses the capacity of the lab.

Out of the 13 confirmed cases two are minors, an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old.

The Blue Valley private school (Escazu) shut doors for 10 days after confirming that a parent was positive with the virus, this measure affects a population of approximately 1000 students. Lincoln high school( San Jose) and Pan-American school (Belen) also confirmed they are suspending regular lessons through at least March 13 and opting for virtual classes to prevent transmission of the virus.

The coronavirus has also motivated the decision to play the weekly soccer games in closed doors and also caused the suspension of programmed public events such as the Guns n’ Roses concert scheduled for March 18, the X-knights event that was supposed to take place this weekend, March 14. No decision has been made yet regarding the KISS concert on April 28.