With a total of 683 new coronavirus infections, Panama has reached a total of 116,602 confirmed cases as of this Tuesday, October 6.
The number of deaths due to COVID -19 in the country rose to 2,440 with a total of 10 new deaths, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
According to the epidemiological report, of the active patients, 19,980 are in home isolation and another 381 are confined in hotels; while another 851 are hospitalized (735 in ward and 116 in intensive care).
There are a total of 21,212 clinically recovered patients.
Minsa indicated that in the last hours 5,925 tests were carried out, for a percentage of positivity of 11.%.
To date, a total of 514,367 tests have been carried out, reaching 12,022 tests per million inhabitants.
According to the age group, patients between 20 and 59 years of age 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 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, 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.
In lack of better information sources, PanaTimes continues to report the government (Minsa) announced figures. Readers are adviced to use their own judgement.
Anyway, Panatimes, your efforts in steering the conversation away from the ongoing propaganda are much appreciated. You make a difference!