Panama accumulates 436,475 new cases and 6,833 Covid deaths (August 1)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panamanian authorities reported this Sunday 820 positive cases and 10 new deaths due to covid-19, which raised to 436,475 infections and 6,833 deaths due to the disease in more than 16 months of the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) report detailed that there are 105 patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU), and 431 are admitted to the ward, while 11,627 are under quarantine at home and 342 in hotels, for a total of 12,505 active cases.

In the last day, 10,305 tests have been applied to detect the disease, showing a positivity rate of 7.9%, a figure above the 5% positivity rate in cases that the World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the pandemic is under control.

Since the first infection of the disease was detected on March 9, 2020, 417,137 patients have been recovered. The case fatality rate stands at 1.6%, one of the lowest in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Since January 20, when the national immunization plan was launched in Panama, 2,753,083 covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, the only two suppliers in the country, have been administered.

The Pfizer preparation is administered to priority groups, including children aged 12 and older with chronic diseases. In comparison, the AstraZeneca preparation is administered to those over 30 years of age voluntarily.

The Central American country, which aims to have 70% of its 4.28 million inhabitants vaccinated this year, has contracted 7.2 million vaccine doses from Pfizer, another 1.2 million from AstraZeneca, and 1.2 million through the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO).