In the last 24 hours, Panama registered 731 new cases of covid-19 and 12 deaths from the virus, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa) through its epidemiological report.
In total, the country accumulates 133,598 infections and 2,700 deaths for a case fatality rate of 2.0%.
7,446 new tests were carried out to detect covid-19, for a 9.8% positivity.
There are currently 20,346 active cases and 110,552 recovered.
Of the total of active patients, 19,672 are in isolation, of which 19,139 are at home and 533 in hospital hotels; while 674 are hospitalized of them 562 in 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 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.