Monday
Monday 31st January 2022.
January 31, 2022
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported this Sunday, that 4,490 new infections by Covid-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours, for a positivity of 27.2%. 6,514 tests were applied. In the report, the Minsa highlights that in the last 24 hours 17 people died and updates a death from an earlier date. The accumulated number of deaths is 7,716 and a fatality rate of 1.1%. Panama registers 697,124 accumulated cases. Active cases total 68,667 while in home isolation 67,851, divided into 67,613 at home and 238 in hotels. Those hospitalized add up to 885, in the wards there are 798 people and 87 in the intensive care units.
For Eduardo Ortega-Barría, National Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation, in Panama the number of cases of Covid-19 is higher than those that are being detected in both the public and private sectors. Ortega-Barría stated that there is a significant number of people who are not undergoing the tests to have the diagnosis. He added that there is another group of people who think they have a cold and “it’s over and they don’t get tested” to find out if they were infected with the new coronavirus.
During the first four days of the La Chorrera Fair, a total of 278 people with Covid-19 have tried to enter the event. This was reported by Carlos García , president of the Board of Trustees of the La Chorrera Fair, who explained that the day that the most tried to enter was the day of its inauguration, when 124 people were detected.
The official deputy of the 6-1 circuit (Chitré) Alejandro Castillero, who was hospitalized after suffering an accident on his farm, was transferred on Sunday morning by air, to a medical center in Panama City. The Chitrean deputy had been in the intensive care unit since January 8 after undergoing surgery after falling from a horse on a farm he owned.
At the same time that thousands of citizens have seen how they lose their income, as a result of the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the last two years the country has witnessed the “waste of funds” by the government of Laurentino Cortizo , that not only avoided reducing high salaries, as appropriate in a crisis, but “continues to increase the already exorbitant payroll” (290 thousand 776 officials). This was stated in its Sunday statement by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (Cciap) , after details of how local governments use municipal and national budgets for expenses that include emoluments have come to light in recent days., which in many cases exceed $10,000 per month per mayor or representative. In addition, he called on the Comptroller’s Office and the National Transparency Authority to fulfill their role without waiting for journalistic investigations to explode before reacting.
The flagging of ships of the Panamanian registry closed 2021 with a total of 8,558 ships and 236 million gross registered tons,
maintaining the first place worldwide, in the midst of an industry that is directed to the use of ships with new technologies that protect the marine environment. Compared to 2020, last year there was an increase of 2.33% in the registration of ships, reported the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP). Panama flags 15% of the world fleet according to Clarksons Research.
The deputies of the independent caucus, Juan Diego Vásquez and Gabriel Silva , presented a bill that seeks to establish the legal framework for public libraries in Panama. The bill was endorsed on January 26 by the Education Commission of the National Assembly (AN) and will go to the first debate. The Political Constitution establishes in its article 80 that “the State recognizes the right of every human being to participate in Culture and therefore must encourage the participation of all the inhabitants of the Republic in National Culture”.