On April 1st The Ministry of Health confirmed to The Star that 375 patients have tested positive for coronavirus, this number includes 181 women and 194 men out of which 347 are Costa Rican and 29 are foreigners; 337 are adult, 24 are senior citizens and 14 minors.

In total 15 people are currently hospitalized and 9 in intensive care with ages ranging from 36 to 69 years.

With the Holy Week coming up (Semana Santa) the Government has strengthened the restrictions, among them the one regarding vehicular traffic; the night restriction will be in effect from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting this Friday, April 3 through Tuesday, April 7; and starting this Saturday, April 4 through Tuesday, April 7 a new day restriction will also apply by plate number from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The daytime vehicular traffic restriction that will apply from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m will be as follows:
Saturday and Monday: vehicles with plates ending on 0,2,4,6 and 8
Sunday and Tuesday: vehicles with plates ending on 1,3,5,7 and 9

Starting April 8th and for a period of 5 days, through April 12 the daytime restriction will be applied in general, the suspension will apply to the vehicular transit and people transit in general. The access to supermarkets, convenience stores, health services and pharmacies will be guaranteed without restriction, however, the transit of vehicles will be limited to the plates authorized per day as follows:

Wednesday: vehicles with plates ending on 0 and 1
Thursday: vehicles with plates ending on 2 and 3
Friday: vehicles with plates ending on 4 and 5
Saturday: vehicles with plates ending on 6 and 7
Sunday: vehicles with places ending on 8 and 9

Long distance public transportation services will also be restricted.

Starting April 13, the restrictions will go back to what they are today with weekday night transit restricted from 10 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m on weekends.

“The epidemiological characteristics of this illness require that the health system, the institutions and the entire population take radical measures to prevent the fast transmission of cases and avoid the overload of the health system in the weeks to come since this could have an effect in the raise of mortality of the illness in Costa Rica”, stated President Carlos Alvarado during the press conference.

In addition to the vehicular restriction, the government will also close commercial establishments that give attention to the public, these will only be allowed to offer express service.