Costa Rica's Ministry of Health confirmed on Friday the country's first case of COVID-19.

The patient is a 49-year-old American tourist who has been quarantined in a hotel in San Jose together with her husband.

According to Health Minister Daniel Salas, the couple were asymptomatic when they entered the country on March 1. The patient's husband said he had had unknowing contact with an infected person in New York.

The ministry on Thursday ruled out the possible infection of two Costa Rican women who recently returned from a trip to Italy.