An additional 443 cases of dengue were reported during the first week of this month, bringing to 4,865 the number of those who have fallen ill with dengue fever in Costa Rica as of the first week of March, according to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Health.

With 1,779 cases, Alajuela stands out as the province with the highest number of infections, followed by Puntarenas with 1,269.

Meanwhile, an additional 283 cases of Chikungunya were reported during the first week of this month, bringing to 1,167 the number of those infected with the virus so far this year. Of those, 555 were reported in along Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, while 372 cases were reported in the province of Guanacaste.

Both dengue and Chikungunya are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads the Zika virus that has made headlines around the world this year.

So far, there have been a total of 12 cases of Zika in Costa Rica: eight indigenous infections and four cases believed to have been imported from abroad.

All eight cases of indigenous Zika infection occurred in the area Samara and neighboring Nosara, in the country’s northwest province of Guanacaste.

Organizations such as the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism (Caturgua) report that coastal communities have been undertaking a massive effort to remove mosquito breeding sites as thousands of beachgoers are expected to head to the country’s coasts beginning this weekend in celebration of the Holy Week (Semana Santa) holidays.