The epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health of Panama (Minsa) reported today, Thursday 15 October that there were 10 new deaths from COVID-19, which brings the number of deaths from the virus in the country to 2,529.
While infections by this new coronavirus rose to 122,883, after 6,976 tests were applied in the last 24 hours, which detected about 755 new cases of COVID-19.
In Panama, so far, some 98,671 have recovered from this virus and another 21,683 remain as active cases.
Regarding the breakdown of the positive cases; 20,409 people remain isolated in their homes and 466 remain housed in hospital hotels.
Mentioning the people hospitalized in wards, the report details that there are 684 and another 124 are confined in intensive care units.
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.