A total of 1,125 new cases of COVID-19 were registered in the last 24 hours, raising the number of infections to 144,477, according to the Ministry of Health of Panama.
Deaths from the virus in the country increased to 2,856, after accounting for 26 new deaths. The case fatality rate remains at 2.0%.
In the last hours, 9,154 tests were carried out to detect coronavirus, for a percentage of positivity of 12%.
There are a total of 123,229 recovered patients.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa, of the active patients there are 16,988 in home isolation and 572 in hotels; while 832 patients are hospitalized, of them 683 in ward and 149 in intensive care.
According to the age group, patients between the ages of 20 and 59 continue to be the most affected in terms of contagion, however most deaths correspond to those over 60 years of age.
Sectors most affected
According to the latest epidemiology report, the townships with the highest number of cases are December 24, Juan Díaz, Parque Lefevre, Tocumen, San Francisco (all in Panama). Also on the list are Santiago de Veraguas, Juan Demostenes Arosemena (Panama West), Pacora, José Domingo Espinar and David (Chiriquí).
They also appear on the list of townships with more than ten cases: Pedregal (Panama), Tortí, Betania, Chilibre, Rufina Alfaro, Soná, Penonomé, Las Cumbres, Los Algarrobos, Vista Alegre, Bella Vista, Guadalupe Bario Balboa and Belisario Porras.
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.