The Ministry of Health (Minsa) of Panama reported 1,457 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 161,744.
Meanwhile, 12 new deaths from this virus were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 3,030, and a fatality rate of 1.9%.
11,038 tests were applied to detect covid-19 in the last hours, for a positivity of 13.2%.
There are 16,668 active cases and 142,046 recovered patients.
Of the total active cases, 15,590 patients are in home isolation, of which 14,901 are at home and 689 in hospital hotels.
While 1,078 patients are hospitalized, 930 in the ward and 148 in intensive care units.
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, 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.