Delta variant circulating in Panama in border area with Costa Rica

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panamanian health authorities warned on Friday of the arrival in the country of the contagious delta variant of the coronavirus in a “community” case found in the western province of Chiriqui, on the border with Costa Rica.

“We already have a community case” in Chriquí, “watch out, let’s not be confident, because the delta variant is causing problems to the United States, which is a power, to India, Colombia, United Kingdom”, declared the Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre.

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In a press release, the Ministry of Health (Minsa) said that the infected is a 14-year-old minor from Chiriqui who is in quarantine.

“The minor reported having had close contact with a positive person who is currently recovered from the disease, both reported not having recently traveled to another country, so that it could be considered as a community infection”, the official information indicated.

The Minsa detailed that “16 travelers, 4 of them were caught by the sea in the province of Colon and 11 at the Tocumen International Airport, in addition to a Panamanian crew member”, have tested positive for the delta variant, and that none presented complications due to the disease and all of them completed the 14-day quarantine”.

The health officials stated that the delta variant is one of the most contagious globally, so Panama has an epidemiological surveillance control at all points of entry, air, sea, and land, to prevent the spread of this new variant in the country.

The delta variant, identified for the first time in India and according to studies 60% more contagious than its predecessors, will soon become the dominant one worldwide, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 12.

PANAMA EXCEEDS 3 MILLION DOSES APPLIED

With respect to the national vaccination process that began last January 20, 3,006,726 doses of the preparations of Pfizer, the main supplier in Panama, and AstraZeneca, which have delivered more than 3.8 million portions, have been administered up to this Friday.

In Panama, a country of 4.28 million inhabitants that aims to have 70% of the population vaccinated this year, Pfizer’s drug is administered to priority groups, including children aged 12 and older with chronic diseases. In contrast, AstraZeneca’s drug is given to those over 30 years of age.

On Friday, the Minsa reported 895 new cases of covid-19 and 10 deaths from the disease, for a cumulative total of 440,494 confirmed infections and 6,885 deaths in more than 16 months of the pandemic.

There are 101 hospitalized with the coronavirus in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 478 on the ward. At the same time, 10,251 remain at home, in isolation, and 312 in hotels, for a total of 11,142 active cases with the capacity to infect.

In the last 24 hours, 9,815 tests were applied to detect cases of covid, which showed positivity of 9.1%, while up to this Friday, a total of 3,006,726 tests have been carried out.