Panama reports 765 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths in 24 hours

According to the official data, the total number of infected with the virus in the country is now 33,550, while 15,745 patients have clinically recovered from the disease. There are currently 17,174 active cases.

Deaths

A total of 11 new deaths were recorded over 24 hours, which brings the total to 631. The death rate is currently 1.88% of the infected.

Minsa has not reported the breakdown of deaths by gender, age and cause of death for the past two days.

Testing

1,981 new tests were conducted in since the last report, of which 38.6% were positive. The number of total tests is now 130,776, of which 94,336 were negative.

Testing rate is reported to cover 3,057 per 100,000 population.

Treatment

15,590 patients are in home isolation and 664 are in so-called hospital hotels.

The Ministry of Health also reported that 774 are in the hospital ward and 146 in the intensive care units.

Demographics

Positive COVID-19 cases by age group:

<20 years old: 4,037
20-39 years old: 14,748
40-59 years old: 10,602
60-79 years old: 3,483
>80 years old: 680

Deaths by age group:

<20 years old: 12
20-39 years old: 37
40-59 years old: 124
60-79 years old: 292
>80 years old: 166

Breakdown by provinces

Cases by provinces: Panama 20,816, Panama Oeste 5,838, Colón 1,416, Chiriquí 1,349, Veraguas 1,158, Bocas del Toro 1,107, Darién 921, Ngäbe Buglé 308, Coclé 287, Guna Yala 259, Herrera 62 and Los Santos 29.

Transmission

Meanwhile, the effective reproductive number (Rt) for Panama is estimated at 1.42, which indicates that the speed at which the virus is spreading is a consequence of community transmission observed mainly in the health regions of Metropolitan, Panamá Oeste and San Miguelito, indicated Minsa.

This index, however, has increased in Darien, Chiriquí, Veraguas and Colón provinces from townships that have reported more than 20 cases in the last week, the ministry said in a statement.

The following townships present the highest contagion rates and in which activities at the community level to reduce transmission are being strengthened: Cristóbal Este (Colón), David (Chiriquí), Rodolfo Aguilar (Barú), Ancón and Las Garzas ( Metropolitan). Meanwhile, actions in the Ngabe Buglé and Guna Yala regions have allowed contagion rates to be reported below 1, he indicated.

Curfew

The Minsa also reported that they modified Resolution 492 of June 6 that restricts citizen mobility in the provinces of Panama and Panama West.

In this case, the weekends of July will be added. In other words, both provinces will have a curfew from Saturday at 5:00 p.m. until Monday at 5:00 am.

Public voices disagreement to Minsa over Twitter

This is already a clear violation of human rights and the right to free movement, 4 months deprived of liberty and they have not been able to face the pandemic like other countries. It is unacceptable that the people continue to pay for this closure, wrote @Niuman

Could you explain at least why there is 38.9% positivity? Are you doing tests in the clusters, are you looking for contagion contacts or are there really that many contagious at a general level, asks @mejiagoellner

Another month kidnapped on weekends for the inability to isolate positives at convention centers or hotels, states @adrianbello07