Panama registered 504 new cases of covid-19 and 17 deaths due to this disease in the last 24 hours, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa) through its epidemiological report.
With these figures, the country accumulates a total of 333,755 infections and 5,672 deaths.
The case fatality rate is 1.7%.
4,113 tests to detect coronavirus were carried out in the last hours , for a positivity percentage of 12.2%.
The epidemiological report also details that to date there are 316,048 recovered patients and 12,035 active cases.
Of the total number of positive patients, 10,641 are isolated, of which 10,264 are at home and 377 in hospital hotels.
While 1,394 are hospitalized, of which 1,184 are in ward and 210 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, 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.