News
Thursday 5th May 2022.
May 5, 2022
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported that 1,838 new cases of Covid-19 and one death were confirmed in the last 24 hours. According to the data from the epidemiological report, at the national level, 10,244 tests were applied to date for a positivity percentage of 17.9%. Regarding the deaths, the Minsa registers one in the last 24 hours. Since the pandemic arrived in the country, in March 2020, a cumulative of 8,189 deaths and a lethality of 1% have been reported. With the increase in confirmed infections, the number of active cases throughout the country rose to 7,939, of which 7,823 are in home isolation and 116 hospitalized. Those in isolation are divided into 7,803 at home and 20 in hospital hotels. Those hospitalized are 101 in the ward and 15 in intensive care. It is highlighted that the districts with the highest incidence of cases are Juan Díaz (80), San Francisco (79), Rufina Alfaro (60) and Ancón (60).
The magistrates of the Electoral Court (TE) Heriberto Araúz, Eduardo Valdés Escoffery and Alfredo Juncá held this Wednesday, a first meeting with members of the security forces to coordinate the electoral process of May 5, 2024. According to the entity, it is a meeting that is part of the General Elections Plan that was installed on March 23 and that is made up of 33 work commissions responsible for planning, developing and executing the next elections. Araúz, presiding magistrate of the TE, said that “the security forces play a fundamental role in the planning, before and during the elections.”
A formal request in order to obtain information from the payroll of the Mayor’s Office of Panama was presented on the morning of this Wednesday. The request is supported by a group of citizens that supports the recall process of the mayor of the capital district, José Luis Fábrega . Freddy Pittí, spokesman for the group and signatory of the information request, said that there are about a thousand officials hired over a period of three years (2020-2022), that is, in the midst of the confinements and suspension of many activities, product of the 
Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, Pittí indicated that they await “answers” about the motivations for making these contracts. “What are these people doing? Who are they? They are working? We are asking for results and evidence that these people are going to their jobs and doing their job,” he said.
The Mayor’s Office of Panama declared void the tender for the best value for the improvement of the Mi Pueblito tourist complex, located in Ancón, with a reference price of $1.4 million. The decision was made by Mayor José Luis Fábrega , on Tuesday, after reading the report of the evaluation commission that concluded that none of the four companies that participated in the public act met the minimum requirements established in the list of charges.
The Colombian Navy, together with the agents of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan), seized 6.1 tons of cocaine off the coast of Isla Grande, in the province of Colón. This was reported by the Colombian entity through Twitter, where it highlighted that this seizure represents an economic loss for drug trafficking groups operating in the region of 207 million dollars.
Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares will have their sentencing hearing on Friday, May 20, in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York, five months after having pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to launder bribes paid by the Brazilian company Odebrecht, to a “senior official of the Panamanian government” between 2009 and 2014, accepting that he is also a “close relative” of both. The agreements reached by the brothers have basically the same structure: a confession in exchange for a maximum non-appealable sentence of 151 months in prison and the return of some 19 million dollars, together, as a fine. This does not limit the application of more favorable or unfavorable conditions in sentences, the scope of which can only be understood with the terms of the respective sentences. If the sentence is more than 151 months in prison, it would be appealable.
The summit of foreign ministers from Central American and Caribbean countries, which was held on Tuesday in Panama, a meeting in which Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, participated, concluded with the announcement that Panama and the EU agreed to establish a regional data center in the country, a part of the Copernicus component. This is the EU’s space program, which, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama, will be aimed at increasing the capacities of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in managing the environment, mitigating the effects of climate change and disaster risk reduction.
Two consortiums presented proposals at a public act carried out by the Panama Sanitation Program for the design and construction of the main collector of the Matasnillo River, for an amount of $60.2 million. The BRD Matasnillo Consortium offered $71.3 million, and the Prodemex Urban Infrastructure Construction Consortium presented its proposal for $59.9 million. According to the specifications, this project contemplates 19 pipe interconnections that are planned to be carried out, and that will allow the transport of wastewater from the area, starting in Los Libertadores, in the Tumba Muerto, and ending in the Isabel Herrera Professional School. of Obaldía, in Paitilla, corregimiento of San Francisco.
Gasoline prices will rise from this Friday, May 6, reported the National Energy Secretariat . 95 octane gasoline will rise five cents a liter, to $1.27. Meanwhile, the 91 octane will increase three cents per liter, to $1.20. Meanwhile, the price of low-sulfur diesel increased 11 cents, to cost $1.36 per liter.