A total 3,740 new cases of COVID-19 were registered in the last 24 hours, raising the number of infections to 285,093, according to the Ministry of Health of Panama.
Deaths from the virus in the country increased to 4,561, after accounting for 50 new deaths, plus another 11 deaths from previous dates.
The case fatality rate is 1.6%, while the RT is at 1.18.
In the last hours, 17,137 tests were carried out to detect coronavirus, for a positivity percentage of 21.8%.
There are a total of 223,635 recovered patients.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa, of the 54,333 isolated patients, there are 53,617 in home isolation and 716 in hotels; while 2,564 patients are hospitalized, of them 2,341 in ward and 223 in intensive care.
According to the age group, patients between 20 and 59 years of age continue to be the most affected in terms of contagion, however, most deaths correspond to those over 60 years of age.
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, the method used in Panama to define 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 compromise the figures mentioned above.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to publish reports with the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement. We are happy to publish more accurate reports, if they become available to us or our contributors.