The Ministry of Health (Minsa) of Panama reported 691 new cases of COVID-19 and 8 deaths in the last 24 hours.
With these new figures, the country accumulates 114,653 cases and 2,414 deaths from this virus, which represents a fatality of 2.1%.
5,565 new tests were performed to diagnose COVID-19. There are 21,044 active cases and a total of 91,195 recovered are reported.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa , of the total assets there are 20,236 in home isolation, of which 19,869 are at home and 367 in hospital hotels, while 808 are hospitalized, of them 696 in the ward and 112 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 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, 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.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to report the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement.