The Ministry of Health (Minsa) of Panama reported 2,633 new cases of covid-19 and 41 deaths in the last 24 hours.
With these new figures, the total number of infections and 3,840 deaths from this virus rises to 231,357. The case fatality is 1.7%.
In the last 24 hours 9,831 tests were applied to detect coronavirus, for a positivity of 26.7%.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa, there are 41,551 active cases and 185,966 recovered patients.
39,520 patients are kept in isolation, of which 38,825 are at home and 695 in hospital hotels.
While, 2,031 are hospitalized, of them 1,848 in ward and 183 in intensive care.
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.