Panama total 113,962 infections of COVID-19 and reports 2,406 deaths
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that in the last 24 hours in Panama a total of 620 new infections of COVID-19 have been registered, which brings accumulated cases in the country to 113,962, on Friday 2 October.
Likewise, the number of deaths from the new coronavirus in the country rose to 2,406 after 19 new deaths were recorded, keeping the case fatality rate at 2.1%.
Until this Friday, 90,772 people have recovered, and 20,784 cases remain active, of which 19,612 remain in isolation at home and 369 are in hospital hotels.
According to Minsa statement a total of 690 patients remain hospitalized in the ward and 113 are in intensive care units.
The statement adds that in the last 24 hours, 5,437 new tests have been carried out to detect COVID-19 and the positivity rate is 11.4%.
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.