News
Wednesday 15th September 2021.
September 15, 2021
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported this Tuesday, September 14, that in the last 24 hours 10 people died of Covid-19, so the accumulated total of deaths amounts to 7,151. The total of active cases adds up to 4,642. In the last hours, 323 new cases have been reported after the application of 7,592 tests (positivity of 4.2%). The cumulative total of cases is 462,770. While the total of recovered amounts to 450,976. In home isolation, 4,345 are reported, of which 4,174 are at home and 171 in hotels. There are 297 hospitalized and 216 of them are in the ward and 81 are in intensive care units. Lourdes Moreno, head of epidemiology at the Minsa, said that the statistics reflect that in the period from February 28 to September 11 of this year, 1,272 people have died from Covid-19. Of that total, 1,088 were not vaccinated, 95 had the first dose of vaccine and the remaining 89 had received the second dose. She indicated that the Rt for this week stands at 0.82, “one of the lowest in recent weeks.”
Different civil society organizations gathered on the afternoon of this Tuesday, September 14, in the vicinity of the National Assembly to express their rejection of the changes made to the electoral reforms by a group of deputies. This movement was called ‘civic day’ and it takes place simultaneously in eight different parts of the country.Jose Ramón Icaza, president of the Chamber of Commerce, participated in the mobilization and stressed that as a union what is sought is the continuous improvement of the electoral process as part of the strengthening of democracy.The activity was carried out in order and everyone managed to express their discomfort against corruption and the way in which the electoral reforms are being debated in the Assembly. “Justice, enough is enough, down with the Assembly, do not play with the patience of the citizens and not with corruption,” was chanted at the demonstration. With the singing of the national anthem, the organizers closed the protest, however many protesters remained in place to continue expressing their rejection of the actions of the government and the Assembly.
The deputies of the Government and Constitutional Affairs Commission and magistrates of the Tribunal Electoral (TE) agreed this Tuesday, September 14, to install a technical table that will be in charge of reviewing the changes introduced to the electoral reform project. Heriberto Araúz, presiding magistrate of the TE, explained that the table will be installed next Monday, September 20, and will be made up of technicians from the Assembly and the TE.
The deputy and president of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) , Benicio Robinson, came up against the criticism made recently against the National Assembly due to the modifications approved to the electoral reform project. “We are not making a shirt for either the PRD or Benicio Robinson,” he said this Tuesday, September 14. “I have not needed the Code to get [elected]. I always come out with more than 6 thousand votes above the closest adversary, “he said.
A criminal judge sentenced former Minister of Economy and Finance Frank De Lima to 60 months in prison ; to the former executive secretary of the Gaming Control Board (JCJ), Giselle Brea , and to the former deputy comptroller Luis Felipe Icaza, for falsifying documents to favor the operation of the televised bingo known as Buko Millonario . The sentence handed down on August 31, by Judge Lorena Hernández , of the Second Criminal Court for Liquidation, also includes being disqualified from holding public office for three years. The same ruling by Judge Hernández indicates that the three condemned must serve the prison sentence in a prison to be designated.
AES Corporation announced this Tuesday, September 14, the acquisition of a 49.9% stake in AES Colón that belonged to Inversiones Bahía, Ltd. of the Motta group, with which the US company becomes the owner of 100% of the liquefied natural gas project ( LNG). With an investment of $ 1,150 million and in a record time of 27 months, AES Colon inaugurated in August 2018 the first natural gas-based power plant and the first LNG reception terminal in Panama and Central America.
The rating agency Fitch improved this year’s growth estimate to 12.1%. Carlos Morales , an analyst at the agency, said that the rebound is mainly linked to the opening of the economy, after the strong contraction in 2020.
The National Aqueducts and Sewers Institute (Idaan) and the ENSA company detailed that this Sunday, September 19, the Chilibre water treatment plant will suspend its operations for four hours from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Maintenance work will be carried out on the 115 thousand volt switch of the Chilibre electrical substation, which provides electricity to the water treatment plant.