The Ministry of Health (Minsa) also reported that in the last 24 hours there were 12 deaths (9 occurred in one day and 3 deaths on previous dates), raising the number of deaths from COVID-19 to 2,893. The case fatality rate of the disease in Panama remains at 2.0%.
(As contrast; the fatality rate to the total Panama population is 0.07% (2,893/4,177,000))
The country carried out some 8,948 new tests, which registered a positivity of 11.8%.
Those recovered in the country amount to 128,242, while 17,586 are reported among active cases.
On this last number, it appears that there are 16,103 people confined to their homes and 598 staying in hospital hotels after testing positive for COVID-19.
In addition, it is detailed that 731 are hospitalized in wards and 154 in intensive care units.
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.