In total, Panama accumulates 175,907 infections and 3,173 deaths from this virus, with a case fatality of 1.8%.
14,927 tests were applied to detect covid-19, for a positivity of 15.4%.
There are 151,247 recovered patients and 21,487 active patients to date.
Of the total active patients, 20,197 are in isolation, 19,498 of them are at home and 699 are in hospital hotels.
While, 1,290 are hospitalized, of them 1,129 in ward and 161 in intensive care units.
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, 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 highly compromise any figures mentioned above.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to report the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement.