The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Panama increased to 122,128, after this Wednesday, October 14, the country recorded 832 new infections.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that in addition, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 rose to 2,519, after registering 8 new deaths, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.06%.
It details that currently 124 patients are kept in intensive care units and 684 people are hospitalized in the ward.
On the other hand, 97,919 recovered citizens have been counted to date, while 21,690 cases remain active, of which 20,882 remain in home isolation and 449 are in hospital hotels.
The report adds that in the last 24 hours 6,622 new tests have been carried out to detect COVID-19 and the positivity rate is currently 12.6%.
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.