Fourth  Panama covid wave has peaked – scientists

The Panamanian scientific community sees a “sign” that the fourth wave of the pandemic has reached its peak and in the next few days the infections could begin to descend

After maintaining sustained growth in Covid-19 cases for a month, reaching a daily average of 9,991 cases and 10 deaths (from January 16 to 22), the epidemiological week that ended Saturday registered a daily average of 7,873 cases and 16 deaths.

In general terms, there is a decrease of 21.1% in cases, although there is an increase in the average number of daily deaths.

The National Secretary of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Eduardo Ortega, points out that, both on Thursday and Friday of this week, a 30% positivity rate was reported in the tests, which is lower than what had been previously ( when they ranged between 36% and 37%). On Saturday it was 28.9%.

“The good thing about is that the percentage of positive tests is going down for two days in a row, and that may be a sign that we have reached the maximum peak of the fourth wave. We have to see how this weekend ends, but it is a good sign, after having been at 37% positivity of the tests.

The advisor to the Covid-19 Vaccine Research Consortium recalled that the waves of cases conditioned by Omicron in other countries, such as South Africa or the United States, have shown that as fast as they go up, they go down.

However, he specified that hospitalizations and deaths will continue to increase for two more weeks, assuming that there is a 15-day gap between cases with hospitalizations and deaths.

Booster shots
He reiterated that the population must attend to receive the booster dose against Covid-19 to avoid the severe form of the disease,

“We cannot underestimate an organism that has a high rate of transmissibility, like Omicron. Although it is less severe, it is going to have a very important impact on public health,” Ortega pointed out.

For specialist doctor, Paulino Vigil-De Gracias, the peak of new infections has already been reached and now the decline will begin. His conclusion is direct: “Three days ago I said that I did not want to be optimistic, today I say that we are not only reaching the peak of the fourth wave, now we are going down [in cases],” he said.

The Metropolitan Health Region handles 13,340 active cases. The districts with the most active cases are San Francisco, with 1,740; Parque Lefevre (1,463), Juan Díaz (1,285), Bella Vista (1,266) and Tocumen (1,161).

The Ministry of Health  reported that 90% of the deaths that have occurred since the National Vaccination Plan was launched are people who did not have the complete vaccination schedule