News
Tuesday 20th July 2021.
July 20, 2021
The epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) stressed this Monday, that in the last 24 hours there have been 7 deaths due to Covid-19, bringing a total of 6,710 accumulated deaths, for a lethality of 1.6%. In Panama, 403,208 recovered patients are counted. While active cases total 13,448. In addition, 688 new positive cases were detected this Monday, for a national cumulative total of 423,366. According to the Minsa, 7,217 tests were applied, and a 9.5% positivity percentage is returned. There are 762 hospitalized, of which 628 are in a ward and 134 are in intensive care units. In home isolation, 12,686 people are reported, of which 12,318 are at home and 368 in the so-called hospital hotels.
President Laurentino Cortizo announced on Monday afternoon, that this week a “sweep with Pfizer of people from the age of 16” will be carried out. Cortizo detailed on his official Twitter account that these immunizations will be carried out on circuits 2-1, 4-1, 6-2, 6-3, 8-7, 8-8, 9-2 and 9-4. The president’s announcement comes a day after the Vice Minister of Health, Ivette Berrío , informed that this week two batches will arrive in the country, totaling more than 463 thousand doses of Pfizer. Berrío explained that 363,870 vaccines are part of the bilateral agreement with the aforementioned pharmaceutical company and 100,000 belong to the Covax mechanism.
Communities close to the copper mine in the province of Colón, under the charge of Minera Panama, are on alert for the spill of a substance from the mine, and demand to know the risks to health and the environment, since they warn that it is the third time this happens.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Panama contracted by 8.5% in the first quarter of the year, reported this Monday, by the Institute of Statistics and Census of the Comptroller General of the Republic. The agency said in a statement that sectors such as hotels and restaurants had a negative performance, with a drop of 54.8%; construction, with a fall of 35.1%, an activity with great weight in the composition of GDP; the manufacturing industry, with a contraction of 2.4%, due to less slaughter of cattle, pigs and poultry, among others. On the other hand, the mines and quarries registered a favorable performance in the quarter; the Panama Canal, with an 8.3% increase in its revenue from tolls; port operations as a result of the increased movement of TEU containers; re-exports from the Colon Free Zone, at 6.2%; and fishing, whose fish export reached 14.5%.
The director of the Panama Metro, Héctor Ortega, reported this Monday, that they expect to start in October the civil works with the piles or foundations of the viaduct of line 3 that will link the sectors of Albrook in the capital city with the Ciudad del Futuro area in Oeste Panama.
Passenger movement at the Tocumen International Airport increased about 25% last June compared to May, Tocumen SA reported this Monday, July 19. According to the airport administration, the figures “show a sustained recovery of operations and passenger traffic for four consecutive months,” as vaccination against Covid-19 progresses in the main destinations in North and South America that connect in Panama. The figures indicate that during the month of June there was a movement of 751,219 passengers, that is, 149,941 more travelers compared to May 2021. From January to June 2021, a total movement of 3,099,683 passengers is reported.
The Dona Vida Program –which seeks to increase voluntary blood donations in Panama– has managed to maintain an average of 855 complete donations per month during the first half of this year. Data from the program, which collects blood for the National Cancer Institute , Children’s Hospital and Santo Tomás Hospital, show that 5,131 people completed the blood donation process in these months, that is, 1,189 more people than last year during the same period.