Panama accumulates 374,356 cases of Covid-19 and 6,346 deaths (May 24)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panama registered Monday 235 new cases of covid-19 and 14 deaths due to the disease, to reach 374,356 confirmed infections and 6,346 deaths in more than a year of pandemic, informed the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

The epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health reports that 370 patients have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in general wards and 57 in Intensive Care Units (ICU), while 5,075 are isolated at home with mild symptoms and 331 in hotels.

362,177 patients had managed to overcome the disease since March 9, when the first case of infection occurred in Panama, which has a 1.7% mortality rate due to covid, one of the lowest in the Latin American region.

The number of active cases (contagions) reached 5,833 as of today, indicated the Minsa.

On this day, 4,820 SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests were applied, which showed positivity of 4.8%. In total, Panama has applied 2,589,074 tests, 605,135 per million inhabitants.

Regarding the vaccination process, Minsa indicated that to date, a total of 953,508 doses of covid-19 vaccines had been administered throughout the country.

Panama agreed to purchase 7 million doses from Pfizer, the country’s main supplier; 1.1 million from AstraZeneca and another 1.1 million from the global mechanism Covax, for which it plans to invest 104.4 million dollars, according to official information.

The Pfizer doses are being administered to priority groups, such as health personnel, adults over 60 years of age, teachers, and pregnant women, while the AstraZeneca dose is being administered to men over 30 years of age and women 50 years of age or older who have registered on a voluntary registry.

The authorities have warned of a possible third wave of Covid-19 due to the increase of cases in three provinces in the western part of the country and have asked not to lower their guard since they consider it essential despite receiving the vaccine against covid to preserve self-care measures.