Friday
Friday 20th August 2021.
August 20, 2021
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported this Thursday, that in the last hours 862 new positive cases of coronavirus have been reported , after the application of 11,014 tests (7.8% positivity). In addition, 8 new deaths are registered and a death from a previous date is updated. The accumulated number of deaths from Covid-19 in the country amounts to 6,990. Meanwhile, the accumulated number of cases rises to 450,624. Of this last figure, 433,821 patients have recovered. Active cases total 9,803. In home isolation, 9,373 are reported, of which 9,112 are at home and 261 in hotels. The hospitalized number 430 and of them 320 are in the ward and 110 in intensive care units.
Ana Lorena Chang Chevalier and Leonardo Labrador Chávez , regional chief of Public Health and national chief of Epidemiology, respectively, were separated from their positions on the afternoon of this Thursday, due to a possible conflict of interest due to their connection to a company in charge of carrying out swab tests. The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, in a press conference accepted Thursday afternoon that there was a conflict of interest in the case of Labrador Chávez and Chang Chevalier.
According to figures from the Ministry of Health (Minsa), 23% of the population already has two doses applied against Covid-19 and within three months it could be reaching 80%. Eduardo Ortega , advisor to the Covid-19 Panama Vaccine Research Consortium, explained that if the vaccination speed is maintained with available doses and interested population, the percentage of people with the complete vaccination cycle will increase in the coming weeks. “If we maintain the vaccination speed (we have doses, we need an interested population) we must have 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of September – mid-October. An important milestone !! We will continue to pick up speed and at the end of October – mid-November: we estimate 80% (7M doses)! ”, Wrote Ortega on his Twitter account.
The role of community justice of the peace in society remains in the eye of the storm. Yesterday, representatives of the National Bar Association (CNA) filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Court of Justice to declare unconstitutional provisions of Law 16 of 2016, which governs it.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) presented to the National Assembly the draft budget for the fiscal period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, which amounts to $ 4.25 billion Enrique Sánchez, minister in charge of the ACP, announced that it is planned to contribute $ 2,497 million to the State and another $ 238.4 million in other payments, the lines of which were not detailed.
Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal (TE) supported this Thursday, August 19, their budget for fiscal 2022 before the Budget Commission of the National Assembly.Heriberto Araúz, presiding magistrate of the TE, said that for the next year the entity’s budget will be $ 85.1 million. Araúz indicated that initially the requested amount amounted to $ 102.5 million, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance cut $ 17.4 million, which will affect the General Elections Plan (Plagel).
The promotional campaign that the Tourism Promotion Fund (Promtur) will present on September 22 will last until 2023. The last multi-year campaign that Panama had expired in 2012 and since then short-term strategies have been implemented, which in the opinion of the tourism associations has been one of the main causes of the debacle in tourism, which worsened with the closures and restrictions applied by the Government to reduce the number of infections of the coronavirus (Covid-19).