Panama in the last 24 hours added a total of 754 new cases of COVID-19, raising its number of infections to 118,054 as indicated by the Ministry of Health.
The number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the country rose to 2,463 with a total of 15 new deaths, maintaining a fatality rate of 2.1%.
According to the epidemiological report, of the active patients, 19,957 are in home isolation and another 384 are confined in hotels; while another 859 are hospitalized (742 in ward and 117 in intensive care).
There are a total of 94.39 clinically recovered patients.
The Minsa indicated that in the last hours 5.86 tests were carried out, for a percentage of positivity of 12.9%.
According to the age group, patients aged 20 to 59 years 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.