Covid-19 broke its own record of infections in Panama for the third time in a week, after 2,447 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health informed.
Faced with this dizzying rise in infections, health authorities adopted early November a series of sanctions and more drastic measures such as to extend curfew and implement night dry law in Panama province and its neighboring Panama Oeste, the two regions with the highest incidence of the disease nationwide.
Another indicator is the death toll, after 146 people died in the last five days, equivalent to almost over 20 deaths daily.
About 1,300 people are admitted into hospitals, some 173 of them are in intensive care units, where specialists warn about beds availability, despite authorities gave contrary criteria.
According to epidemiological reports, active cases increased by 21.6% since November, so the Ministry of Health is committed to increase the number of daily PCR tests, so the country plans to open new laboratories.
On Thursday, Health Minister Luis Francisco Sucre met with MiBus manager Luis Campana and Panama Metro director Hector Ortega, in order to assess possible actions to prevent public transport from becoming a means of contagion.
Sucre recommended to mandatorily wear a facemask, which is an effective and complementary method to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, causing Covid-19, in addition to avoiding conversations among users and wash hands after using public transport.
To date, Panama accumulates 185,424 Covid-19 cases and 3,287 deaths. The lethality rate is 1.8%.