The Ministry of Health of Panama (Minsa) reported this Sunday, November 15, that in the last 24 hours there had been some 1,344 new cases of coronavirus, which increases the number of infections to 146,653.
The epidemiological report indicates that from Saturday to Sunday there were 6 deaths due to COVID-19; raising the accumulated death toll to 2,873. The case fatality rate of the disease is 2.0% in the country.
Some 125,370 recovered people were reported in Panama and 18,410 still remain as active cases.
Regarding the active cases, is indicated that 17,015 people are confined to their homes and 567 remain in hospital hotels.
Panama currently maintains 675 hospitalized patients in wards, while 153 are confined in intensive care units due to COVID-19.
The authorities carried out in the last 24 hours some 9,906 tests, which reflects a positivity of 13.6%.
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.