[Charliewool]

The 18 deaths represent Costa Rica’s deadliest day during the coronavirus crisis. For reference, Costa Rica confirmed 23 total deaths due to respiratory viruses in all of 2018, according to the Health Ministry.
“Let’s not look at this as just statistics,” said Health Minister Daniel Salas. “They are people — people who three months ago were watching these press conferences and are no longer with us. That hurts.”
The Health Ministry has confirmed 22,081 cumulative known coronavirus cases. This represents 1,011 more cases compared to Thursday. Of these, 496 people resulted positive via a PCR test over the past 24 hours.

For the first time, the amount of new cases includes people who were not tested for the coronavirus. Rather, Friday’s figure sums 515 people who, since August 2, have begun exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms and live with someone who has tested positive.

“If another person within the same family circle starts showing symptoms, it’s almost 100% certain that they have COVID. It’s a matter of practicality,” Salas has explained.
Friday, 229 more people were classified by health authorities as recovered. Costa Rica has 14,596 known active cases and 7,267 recoveries.