Panama reports 822 new COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours
Panama reached 328,476 COVID-19 infections, after reporting 822 new cases in the last 24 hours, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa), February 9.
Meanwhile, 20 new deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths from this virus to 5,531 in the country.
The case fatality rate is 1.7%.
The Minsa indicated that 5 deaths from a previous date were updated.
8,030 tests were carried out to detect covid-19 in the last hours, for a positivity of 10.2%.
To date there are 25,295 active cases and 297,650 recovered patients.
According to the epidemiological report of the Minsa, 23,589 patients are confined, of them 23,171 in their residences and 418 in hospital hotels.
While 1,706 are hospitalized, of which 1,500 are in the ward and 206 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.
