The number of deaths from the new coronavirus in Panama increased to 2,638 for this Monday, October 26, of which 5 correspond to new deaths, with a case fatality rate of 2.0%.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that 551 new infections of COVID-19 are also counted to make a total accumulated of 129,751 cases.
He adds that currently 105,710 recovered patients are registered and there are 21,403 active cases.
A total of 20,237 patients are in home isolation at home and another 482 people are in hospital hotels.
In the case of hospitalizations, to date there are a total of 559 people in the ward and 125 patients are registered in intensive care units.
In the last 24 hours, 3,655 tests have been performed to detect COVID-19 with a positivity rate of 15.1%.
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.