Friday
Friday 25th November 2022.
November 25, 2022
The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, announced that the batch of the mixed vaccine against the variants of covid-19 could be arriving in the country in the first quarter of 2023. Sucre reported that the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, authorized the purchase of the mixed vaccine with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. He also said that people who have a minimum of two or three doses of the covid-19 vaccine will be immunized, which will allow people to be protected for a year against variants of the virus. It is an improved vaccine to combat the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variant known as Ómicron and its subvariants, that is, a new version, since it was designed with the ancestral variant from Wuhan (China) and the BA.4 and BA.5sublineages. The Ministry of Health has not specified how many doses they will receive or the cost of the purchase. On the other hand, Sucre said that Panama is waiting for the arrival of 70,000 doses of vaccines against the new coronavirus, for those who do not have the full vaccination schedule. “We are in a sixth wave of covid-19 with 17% positivity and an increase in active cases, for which we reiterate the call to the population to maintain self-care measures,” Sucre said, according to a statement. of the Ministry of Health.
The Cabinet Council authorized the Ministry of Health (Minsa) to donate to the Bahamas about 30,000 doses of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company’s covid-19 vaccine. In Cabinet Resolution 129 of November 22, 2022 , published in the Official Gazette , it is stated that the Minsa responded to the Bahamas’ request, which requires timely access to vaccines to control the progress of the pandemic and the petition was presented before the Panavac Covid-19 Operation team, which endorsed the donation. Thus, the Cabinet Council authorized the Health authorities to comply with the legal procedures to proceed with the donation as solidarity and humanitarian support for the Bahamas.
The National Migration Service reported that nearly 9,000 irregular migrants of Venezuelan origin have voluntarily returned to their country after being temporarily in Panama. Since mid-October, thousands of Venezuelan citizens have been stranded in Panama after learning that the United States decided to restrict their entry into that country.These travelers were temporarily housed in a galley in the La Locería sector, Betania, which was enabled by the Venezuelan embassy in Panama and little by little they have been returning to their country. According to Migration in this shelter, until last night’s report, there were about 500 people who still remained in this place.
Poverty in Panama was reduced from 18.5% in 2014 to 15.6% in 2021, according to the report “ Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 ″ presented this Thursday, November 24 in Santiago de Chile, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal). It is about 700 thousand people of the 4.3 million inhabitants of the country. Meanwhile, extreme poverty went from 8.0% in 2014 to 5.7% in 2021, according to the regional organization of the United Nations. Following the pandemic, Latin America and the Caribbean suffered the longest educational blackout internationally (an average of 70 weeks of closure of establishments compared to 41 weeks in the rest of the world), which exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in terms of access, inclusion and quality, ECLAC concluded. In this period, one of the main limitations for educational continuity were inequalities in access to connectivity, equipment, and digital skills. In 2021, in 8 of 12 countries in the region, more than 60% of the poor population under 18 years of age did not have connectivity at home. If ECLAC does not act now, it warns of the “risk of permanent scarring in the educational and employment trajectories of the younger generations” in the region. According to the regional organization, learning losses have already been measured in the Caribbean and, in Latin America, the percentage of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who do not study or work for pay increased from 22.3% in 2019 to 28.7% in 2020, especially affecting young women (36% of them were in this situation, compared to 22% of men). On the other hand, significant gender gaps persist in terms of performance and areas of training. On average, female students perform worse in math and science during basic education, disparities that deepen in the lowest income quartiles. Likewise, in most of the countries of the region the proportion of women graduated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers does not exceed 40%.
In a fleeting meeting, which barely lasted 30 minutes, the Finance Commission of the Municipal Council of Panama approved the income and expense budget for the Municipality of Panama, for 2023, which will amount to about $310 million. La Prensa had access to the document, which shows that the budget for the next year of the mayor of the capital city, José Luis Fábrega, will be $145.8 for operations and $164.5 for investments. This is an amount less than this year’s budget, $330 million. Everything seems to indicate, as assured by opposition councilors, that in the pre-election year –2023– Fábrega seeks to ensure that payroll expenses are maintained, since the largest reduction in the budget occurred in the line, precisely, of investments. During the short discussion in the budget commission of the Municipal Council of Panama, the representative of Don Bosco, Guillermo Bermúdez complained that the budget debate was not allowed as expected and that the spokesmen for the Mayor’s Office did not clearly answer the questions about next year’s budget. “There was no debate and they did not the writer question correctly. At the end of the road, the budget was approved without any explanation from the Mayor’s Office ”, he affirmed.
The Third Settlement Court for Criminal Cases modified the precautionary measure of house arrest for periodic notification and impediment to leave the country to the former president of the Panamanian Football Federation (Fepafut), Ariel Alvarado (2002-2010), charged with the alleged commission of the crime of money laundering. In an edict dated last Monday, November 21, posted at the courthouse, the parties are notified of the decision of the third deputy liquidator of criminal cases, Clelia De La Rosa.
114 pairs of red shoes were placed this week at the Technological University of Panama. They symbolize women murdered, most at the hands of their ex-partners, between 2018 and 2022. 20 of those pairs of shoes represent this year’s victims. In Panama, the exhibition has been taken in previous years to the Cinta Costera, Plaza Concordia on Via España, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Albrook Terminal.