Panama registered 639 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the total accumulated infections to 127,866, according to the epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health (Minsa).
Meanwhile, 10 new deaths were reported, reaching a total of 2,622 deaths from this virus in the country, for a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
6,909 new tests were performed to diagnose Covid-19, for a percentage of positivity of 9.3%.
There are currently 21,259 active cases and 103,958 recovered patients.
Of the total active cases, 20,607 patients are in home isolation, of which 20,138 are at home and 469 in hospital hotels; while 652 are hospitalized, of them 530 in ward and 122 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.