At first, Central American countries reacted very differently to the pandemic. Perhaps the two extremes of this region have been El Salvador and Nicaragua. In March, the Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukele, decreed a quarantine throughout the territory. Since then, hundreds of people have been detained and transferred to containment centers for violating the restrictions. The country faces a stage of high contagion with 28,981 positive cases and 839 deaths.
The Nicaraguan Government promoted events and public agglomerations from the beginning of the health crisis, ordered health personnel not to wear protective clothing at the beginning of the outbreak, and has not carried out a massive sampling to determine the dimension of the COVID-19. President Daniel Ortega finally announced some prevention measures. The Government has recognized that there are 5,170 infections in the country and 151 deaths from COVID-19. Various organizations criticize Ortega's lack of transparency, who minimized the epidemic and has dared to say that he has "controlled" the virus.
Panama is the most affected state in the region: 2,364 people have died, and 111,853 are infected. In Guatemala, 90,968 people have been infected, and 3,238 have died. In Honduras, 76,098 people have been infected, and 2,323 have died. Costa Rica, which registers 880 deaths and adds 74,604 positive cases, has become an example of the pandemic's management.
