Panama registered 876 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 335,339, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa), through its epidemiological report.
Meanwhile, 17 new deaths were reported due to this disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,711. The fatality is 1.7%.
10,649 tests were carried out in the last hours to detect
coronavirus , for a percentage of positivity of 8.2%.
To date there are 318,795 recovered patients and 10,833 active cases.
Of the total number of positive patients, 9,476 are isolated, of them 9,112 are at home and 364 in hospital hotels.
While 1,357 are hospitalized, of which 1,151 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.