Panama reports 489 new COVID-19 cases and 120,802 infections in total
It details that for this Monday, October 12, 489 new infections of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths are counted, maintaining a case fatality rate of 2.1%.
The report adds that to date 96,675 people have recovered and 21,625 active cases are registered, of which 20,364 remain in home isolation and 461 are in hospital hotels.
Currently 679 people are hospitalized in the ward and 121 patients are kept in intensive care units.
In the last 24 hours 4,072 new tests have been carried out to detect COVID-19 and the positivity rate is 12%.
Panama has managed to reach 128,271 tests per million inhabitants and to date it has carried out a total of 548,807 tests to detect COVID-19, of which 424,455 were negative.
Regarding the number of deaths according to age group, it indicates that 21 deaths are registered in those under 20; from 20 to 39 there are 124; from 40 to 59 there are 526; From 60 to 79 there are 1,205 and in those over 80 there are 626 deaths.
He added that regarding the number of cases according to age group, he points out that in those under 20 years there are 19,389 cases; from 20 to 39, 49,374 cases were registered; from 40 to 59 there are 35,729; from 60 to 79 they count 13,533; and in people over 80 there are 2,777 cases.
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.