With a total of 685 new coronavirus infections, Panama has reached a total of 129,200 confirmed cases as of this Sunday, October 25.
The number of deaths due to COVID -19 in the country rose to 2,633 with a total of 5 new deaths, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.0%.
According to the epidemiological report, of the active patients, 20,149 are in home isolation and another 476 are confined in hotels; while another 711 are hospitalized (583 in ward and 128 in intensive care).
There are a total of 105,231 clinically recovered patients.
Minsa indicated that in the last 24 hours 6,657 tests were carried out, for a percentage of positivity of 10.3%.
According to the age groups, patients between 20 and 59 years of age continue to be the most affected in terms of contagion, however, most deaths correspond to those over 60 years of age.
NOTE:
Some critics have argued that the Minsa reported case fatality rate (number of COVID linked deaths / number of known cases) in reality could be much lower, as the number of reported cases does not necessarily reflect the truth, as the testing does not cover the whole population, and many cases go undetected. At the same time, the government can't report what they don't know, but readers should note that the numbers may tell a different story from the reality.
Also, how a "COVID death" is counted is unclear, as many of the deaths correspond to underlying previous conditions, such as cancer, blood diseases, other age related diseases etc., and are reported as COVID deaths since the patient also had the coronavirus. On the other hand, many viruses are known to lower the patient's immunity and expose them to other diseases. As an example most HIV/AIDS patients don't die from the virus itself, but from other derived diseases such as pneumonia or regular flu.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to report the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement.