Deaths from COVID-19 in Panama increase to 2,364 and accumulate 111,853 cases
The number of deaths from the new coronavirus in Panama increased to 2,364, after registering a total of 16 new deaths in the last 24 hours, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that for this Tuesday, September 29, a total of 111,853 confirmed cases of COVID-19 are registered, of which 576 are new infections.
The report adds that 683 patients are hospitalized in the ward and 113 are in intensive care units.
Currently some 88,202 recovered people are reported, while 21,287 cases remain active, of which 20,127 remain in isolation at home and 364 are in hospital hotels.
To date, a total of 477,033 tests have been carried out to detect COVID-19, of which 115,403 have been positive and 361,630 were negative.
Panama has managed to reach 11,150 tests per 100,000 inhabitants, with a positivity of 24.2%.
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.