Panama registered 887 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours, reaching a total of 143,352 infections, reported the Ministry of Health (Minsa).
Meanwhile, 7 new deaths were reported for a total of 2,830 deaths from this virus in the country and a case fatality rate of 2.0%.
7,093 tests were carried out to detect covid-19, for a percentage of positivity of 12.5%.
There are a total of 18,452 active cases and 122,070 recovered patients.
Of the total of active patients, there are 17,640 in home isolation, of which 17,086 are at home and 554 in hotels; while 812 patients are hospitalized, of them 658 in ward and 154 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.