Panama sees light at the end of covid tunnel

Panama registered in the last week the lowest positivity percentages in the Covid-19 pandemic so far.

On Friday it was 5.1%; on Thursday, 6.3%, and Wednesday, 7.1%.

In July and December 2020, when there were spikes in Covid-19 cases nationwide, the percentages were around 30%.

For the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), when the percentage of positives is 5% or less, it means that you are on the path to control the pandemic.

Panama has 7,000  active cases, a number not seen since June 15, 2020. At the end of December 2020. At the beginning of January this year, the country had more than 55,000 active cases.

Public health specialist Jorge Luis Prosperi says that active cases represent a risk in a pandemic because they are the ones who transmit the virus.

For PAHO, it seems that the cases have dropped in Panama, in the same way as the tests and the Rt (effective reproduction number), which is below 1.0

However, PAHO indicates that hospitalizations and, above all, patients in intensive care units, have not decreased at the same rate as contagion cases.

Until last Friday there were 149 patients in intensive care and, according to PAHO, “it is possible” that the periods of stay in hospitals of these patients is influencing the slow decrease in hospitalizations.