In November 2020, Costa Rica became the first nation to reopen for tourism, which it did. Around 1 million tourists visited Costa Rica in 2021, approaching nearly 70% of pre-pandemic levels.
With the Delta variant, however, Costa Rica was hit hard in 2021, with hospitals “virtually full” at their peak and Costa Rica finishing high up on the list of most new cases worldwide. The number of Coronavirus occurences has plummeted in recent months, but they’re at an all-time high as a result of the Omicron variant.
On January 24, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded Costa Rica’s status to Level 4, which means “do not travel,” according to its website. However, because the CDC has updated its warnings, Costa Rica is now rated at Level 3, regarded as high risk.
The country has been implementing a “responsible and gradual opening” since March 2022, when restrictions began to loosen. Costa Rica claims to have one of the lowest death rates per million of inhabitants in the world.