A report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on the situation in Panama until July 7 reveals how the rate of infected has been gaining ground in this region of the world.

Among other aspects, the document specifies that Panama has a rate of 927.7 infected per 100,000 inhabitants, which places it in second place among the five countries in the Americas that have the highest incidence rate, even above the rate regional average, which is 570.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.

According to PAHO, in America, the highest rates of infected per 100,000 inhabitants stand out: Chile (1,584.5), Panama (927.7), Peru (908.6), the United States (862.6) and Brazil (742.2). The rest of the countries are below the average for the region.

According to the report, the position that Panama occupies is directly related to the fact that it is among the countries with the highest number of tests carried out, together with Chile and Peru and, therefore, have the ability to identify a high proportion of cases in the population.

In Panama, more than 3,000 tests are carried out daily and the goal is to reach 4,000 in the next few days.

Mortality

The PAHO document also details how the death or mortality rate - which is not the same as the case fatality rate - is increasing day after day in the country. The mortality rate is calculated with the total population of the country, and the lethality rate is established only with the infected population.

According to PAHO experts, by June 16, Panama had a death rate of 10.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, and by June 29, it had 14.7 deaths per 100,000. For July 5 and 6, the last week to which the statistical report refers, it rose to 17.4 and 18.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.

These data indicate that the country's death rate in July is changing one percentage point per day - increasing - although it still remains below the average rate for the Americas, which as of July 6 was 25.7 per 100,000 people. Yesterday, the Ministry of Health reported that the mortality rate is at 20.8 for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Balance

For Jorge Luis Prosperi, an expert in Public Health, the country is going through an exponential increase in deaths and cases this month.

The doctor affirms that today there are already more than a thousand cases for every 100,000 inhabitants on average, which he described as 'disturbing', and coincided with PAHO's statements about the reason for the increase in infections: We have an increase in cases because we are doing more laboratory tests and we are reaching almost 4,000 per day. 

The specialist stated that the virus is circulating freely throughout the community and every time a person goes out he or she encounters it. The other thing is that our culture does not help in fighting the virus. We are not aware and people do not comply with the sanitary and distancing measures, he assured.

Despite this scenario, Prosperi is one of those who believe that there is still time to stop the escalation of cases and deaths, as long as we stay focused and each one responsibly does his part.