The Ministry of Health (Minsa) of Panama reported 804 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours, reaching a total of 140,331 infections.
10 new deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths from this disease to 2,808, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.0%.
In the last hours, 5,347 tests were carried out to detect covid-19, for a percentage of positivity of 15.0%.
There are a total of 18,812 active cases and 118,711 recovered patients.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa, of the active patients there are 18,082 in home isolation, of which 17,528 are at home and 554 in hotels; while 730 patients are hospitalized, of them 590 in ward and 140 in intensive care.
According to the age group, patients between the ages of 20 and 59 continue to be the most affected in terms of contagion, however most deaths correspond to those over 60 years of age.
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.