The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that Panama registered 977 new cases of COVID-19, raising to 326,464 infections of the virus nationwide.
According to the epidemiological report for this Saturday, February 6, in the last 24 hours there have been 22 new deaths and 7 updates, increasing deaths from coronavirus to 5,455.
The case fatality of the virus is 1.6%.
To date, 9,446 tests have been applied, for a percentage of positivity of 10.3% and 290,124 patients recovered from COVID-19 have been reported in the country.
Active cases total 30,885. In home isolation, 28,827 people are reported, of which 28,380 are at home and 447 in hotels.
In addition, there are 2,058 hospitalized and of them 1,844 are in the ward and 214 remain in intensive care units.
NOTE:
Some observers have argued that the Minsa reported case fatality rate (number of COVID linked deaths / number of known cases) in reality should 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, the method used in Panama to define how a 'COVID death' is counted is also 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.
There have also been reports on the inaccuracy of the PCR test, which would compromise the figures mentioned above.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to publish reports with the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement. We are happy to publish more accurate reports, if they become available to us or our contributors.