News
Thursday 14th October 2021.
October 14, 2021
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported, this Wednesday, October 13, 129 new positive cases and 7 deaths, events that occurred in the last 24 hours. With these new figures, the total number of infections increased to 469,569 and that of accumulated deaths to 7,283. There was also a death from an earlier date. To detect the new cases, 5,176 tests were applied, which yielded a positivity of 2.4%, informed the Minsa. 2,435 active cases are counted and the recovered patients total 459,851. There are 2,223 people in home isolation, of which 2,126 are at home and 97 in hospital hotels. There are 212 hospitalized patients and 169 of them are in the ward and 43 are in the intensive care unit.
According to the scientific studies that Panama has followed, it is recommended that people apply their third anticovid dose, since – after so many months from the first doses – immunization levels begin to drop and the person is exposed to possibly get Covid-19 and suffer the disease in a serious way. This was pointed out by the Deputy Minister of Health, Ivette Berrío , who stressed that all the international information that is published about vaccines against Covid-19 , and their development, is given due follow-up by national experts and those who are abroad. This, in order to be able to make the correct and timely decisions, she pointed out. In order to receive this booster dose, people must have at least six months after the application of their second anticovid dose, either Pfizer / BioNTech or AstraZeneca / University of Oxford. “The studies that we have followed closely have shown that millions of patients in Europe, starting in the United Kingdom, show that citizens who have received the first and second doses of AstraZeneca, when receiving the third dose of Pfizer , their immunity is highly enhanced ”,.
The oral trial of former President Ricardo Martinelli for alleged wiretapping was suspended on the afternoon of this Wednesday, due to the illness of one of the judges who make up the court. According to reports, the afternoon session of the trial was not held because Judge Jennifer Saavedra presented health problems and received a medical disability until Friday.
Ricardo Martinelli filed a criminal complaint against former deputy José Luis “Popi” Varela , for alleged simulation of punishable acts and slander, in which he asks for compensation of $ 300,000. Martinelli filed the complaint against Varela because, according to him, he denounced him “knowing that there is no crime and that no harm has been caused to him.” The former president would be contradicting himself, since on several occasions he has acknowledged having beaten Varela. Even yesterday morning, before entering the trial, he again referred to the “punch” that he “put” on Varela two days earlier.
“For more than a decade, the country has experienced a maelstrom of scandals related to corruption and lack of transparency, a fact that worsened in times of pandemic. We are really concerned about the direction the country is taking and we citizens have to wake up ”. This was stated by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture , Jose Ramón Icaza, at the Third Ordinary General Assembly of the union, held Tuesday. The businessman then argued that for the functioning of democracy there must be a real rule of law and a citizenry that in all its roles respects the laws and is committed to values such as honesty.
The magistrate of the Tribunal Electoral (TE) , Alfredo Juncá, announced that he will attend the plenary session of this Wednesday, October 13, the plenary session of the National Assembly to defend the original proposals of bill 544, which reforms the Electoral Code . “The constitutional function of legislating is of the Assembly, but to improve the proposal, NOT to back out #EstoyDeVuelta, ” said the magistrate on his Twitter account.
During the discussion in the second debate of the electoral reform package, the deputy of Democratic Change (CD), Yanibel Ábrego , announced the withdrawal of the proposal that sought the early renewal of the boards of directors of the political parties.
Members of the Panama Fire Department recovered on the afternoon of this Wednesday, October 13, the lifeless body of a woman, which was floating in the Bay of Panama, near the South corridor booth in Atlapa. At 12:15 pm, firefighters received a call from a person who had seen a body floating in the bay. When they reached the scene, the rescue team immediately proceeded with the operation.