702 prisoners with coronavirus

The number of cases of coronavirus in Panama’s overcrowded prisons has climbed to 702  confirmed the Penitentiary System on Thursday, June 4.

The center of Santiago (Veraguas) has the highest number of affected detainees.

There gas been an increase of 38 new cases since  Monday.

The management of the Penitentiary System said that there are 133 cases in the Santiago prison and that yesterday, Wednesday, the inmates who are not infected were transferred to the Ifarhu facilities in the province.

“The individuals were transferred to the facilities of the Institute for the Training and Use of Human Resources (Ifarhu), located in Santiago, in coordination with the health authorities, to prevent the virus from continuing to spread within the prison compound, said a statement

To date  of the 702 registered cases, there are 36 recovered and one death.

The Nueva Joya prison has the second-most cases of Covid-19 with 265..

In the Women’s Rehabilitation Center there are 98 (21 recovered) and 26 in Nueva Esperanza, in Colón province.

There are  17,882 prisoners in jails across the country.