Panama reports 1,288 new cases of COVID-19 and accumulates 153,577 infections
The epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health of Panama (Minsa) reported this Saturday, November 20, that in the last 24 hours there have been 153,577 accumulated cases of COVID-19, after 1,228 new infections were registered.
The report adds that there were 14 new deaths, bringing the number of deaths to 2,946 from coronavirus in the country. The case fatality of the virus is 1.9% (fatality rate to total population is 0.07%).
In Panama, some 134,360 people have recovered from this disease and 16,271 still remain as active cases.
Of this figure, it was detailed that 14,673 patients remain confined to their homes and 672 stayed in hospital hotels.
Of those hospitalized in wards, 777 convalescent with this virus and 149 confined in intensive care units are reported.
In the last 24 hours, about 11,090 were practiced, yielding a positivity of 11.6%.
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.