The Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, confirmed that the Costa Rican Institute of Investigation and Teaching in Nutrition and Health (Inciensa) which is the national laboratory of reference in public health, already has the capacity to implement a specific lab test to diagnose COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus.

The test is a molecular test known as a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR-TR), under the Berlin protocol, so in the event that there is a suspicious case the country is already in capacity of confirming or discarding the presence of the new respiratory virus without having to send the sample to a foreign lab.

This resource is only available to national health authorities who will decide which samples will be processed in Inciensa.
The Ministry of Health informed that they have also updated the protocols of alert of this illness. Some of the alerts would be to have been in the last 14 days in countries where there are native cases of COVID-19, such as China, South Korea, Iran and Italy; also presenting a fever, cough, sour throat or difficulty breathing.

Salas also commented that it is not unlikely that the virus arrives to the country due to the globalized world we live in. He also emphasized that the majority of people infected with this virus only present it a a mild cold.

“We reiterate the importance of continuing with hand-washing protocol and proper forms of sneezing, which must be applied at all times year round, since these prevent respiratory viruses in general and microorganisms that produce diarrhea. Our system is strong and prepared but it the self care responsibility is important as a form of prevention, specially for people with chronic illnesses or other risk factors”, concluded Salas.

So far, the Ministry of Health has evaluated 146 people in the Juan Santamaria Airport, all of which tested negative, regardless, all the patients are followed up on for a period of 14 days which is the possible incubation period of the virus.