News
Tuesday 21st December 2021.
December 21, 2021
The epidemiological report of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), of this Monday, reveals that in the last hours there were no deaths from Covid-19, so the total number of deaths remains at 7,400. Regarding the new infections, it was announced that there were 252, 4,898 tests were applied for a positivity of 5.1%. There are a total of 4,149 active cases; of which 4,003 are in home isolation and 146 hospitalized. Those in home isolation are divided into 3,837 in their homes and 166 in the so called hospital hotels,. There are 127 patients hospitalized in the wards and 19 in the ICU.
The Ministry of Health confirmed this Monday, that the first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was already detected in Panama .Luis Francisco Sucre, head of the Health portfolio, was in charge of confirming that the first case of Ómicron was detected on, Sunday, in a 50-year-old man. As reported in a press conference, the person affected with the Omicron variant traveled to South Africa for work reasons, since he is part of the staff of one of the mining projects being developed in the country. Sucre clarified that the infected person has his complete vaccination scheme and that he entered the country with a negative PCR test. The man was always isolated and had no contact with anyone else within the project. First, a test was carried out on the third day of entering the country and it came out negative. After the fifth day, a PCR and an antigen test were performed, which were positive. However, the patient is asymptomatic, Sucre said.
The presiding magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, Luis Ramón Fábrega , said on Monday that they are “closely awaiting” the investigations carried out by the Public Ministry (MP) as a result of a video made public by the digital medium Foco, in which former President Ricardo Martinelli would have coincided with the husband of Marysol Osorio, one of the judges who recently acquitted him of political espionage. The meeting of the video in question would have occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, October 31, 2021, at the restaurant of the Club Deportivo Unión Española, in San Francisco. The next day, when the ex-president’s trial resumed, the defense announced that it was suspending the presentation of evidence. Hours after the video was made public, and the public repudiated the fact, former President Martinelli issued a warning: he will sue civilly and kidnap the property of those who carry out a “dirty campaign” against him.
Dialogue by the Social Security Fund (CSS) must act with a sense of urgency. This was expressed by Rubén Castillo, president-elect of the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep), in an interview with La Prensa. The executive said that a deadline must be established to define the criteria to be used to save the Disability, Old Age and Death (IVM) program of the CSS. Those criteria, he pointed out, must be sustainable over time.
The journalistic unions and the media united this Monday in the face of new threats to repress the exercise of journalism and freedom of expression, with the sole purpose of silencing public opinion. “Freedom of expression and the right of the citizen to choose how to get informed has been under attack for some time. And the time has come to put a stop to the harassment, ”read Guillermo Antonio Adames , president of the National Council of Journalism (CNP) , as part of the joint statement also signed by the Forum of Journalists for Freedom of Expression and Information and the Panamanian Association Broadcasting (APR) , and this is what was raised this Monday, at a conference held at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. He added that the judicial system has been violated “by the political class and corrupt businessmen,” and there are precedents that have demonstrated the vulnerability of the judicial system and the inability of the State to guarantee the exercise of freedom of expression and the right of the population of get informed and freely express opinions about public affairs.
The rains will continue in the national territory until this December 21, warned the National Civil Protection System. Etesa’s Hydrometeorology Management indicates that the atmospheric system over the region maintains some anomalies, which generates downpours and storms over these days. The areas under warning for accumulated daily rains (15 mm to 60 mm) are: Bocas del Toro, Ngäbe Buglé region, Colón, Veraguas (north and south), Chiriquí, Guna Yala region, Darién, Emberá-Wounaan region and maritime sectors of the Caribbean and the Panamanian Pacific.
To strengthen the Panamanian logistics industry, the Logistics Business Council (COEL) announced that Panama will host in October 2022 the 7th World Forum of Logistics Cities and Platforms, which has as its theme: “Green logistics and artificial intelligence in management of the supply chain ”.