Covid deaths down for 7th week

The rate of covid-19 infections is in “notable decline” Epidemiological week  9 registered 376 cases less than the 4,408 infections recorded in the previous week (February 21 to 27 ).

Reports from the Ministry of Health show 25,000  infections in the first epidemiological week of January.

Another positive indicator is that of deaths, which has been declining for seven consecutive weeks. The week that ended last Saturday, 79 were reported.

The national vaccination plan is advancing at the rate of about 10,000 doses applied per day.

The gigantic task involved in carrying out the vaccination of 3.4 million people to achieve herd immunity is progressing according to the established logistics.

Eduardo Ortega Barría, National Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt), and advisor to the Covid-19 Vaccine Research Consortium in Panama, explained that 80% of the country’s population must be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. We are talking about approximately 3.4 million Panamanians, he said.

He added that if 70 thousand people are vaccinated per week, which are the doses that are arriving at this time, in 48 weeks, that is, approximately 11 months, the goal will be achieved.

 Ortega Barría acknowledged that it is a complex process and that has never been done before in the world, especially with a vaccine that requires special storage and temperature conditions, as required by Pfizer / BioNTech.

Until yesterday, Panama showed on the site ourworldindata.org a rate of 4.51 doses applied per 100 people, above the world average of 3.85 doses per 100 people.