In the last 24 hours, Panama registered 696 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths from this disease, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa) in its epidemiological report.
With these new figures, the country accumulates 126,435 cases and 2,597 deaths, with a case fatality of 2.1%.
8,514 new tests were performed to diagnose COVID-19, for a percentage of positivity of 8.2%.
There are currently 21,113 active cases and 102,725 recovered patients.
Of the total active cases, 20,435 patients are in home isolation, of which 19,952 are at home and 483 in hospital hotels; while 678 are hospitalized, of them 561 in ward and 117 in intensive care.
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.