At least 14 Panamanians were infected with the coronavirus (covid-19)   by 4:00 pm on  Wednesday, March 11 and another 140 are under observation.

Ten of the confirmed cases  are men and four are women two of whom are hospitalized (one in intensive care on a ventilator).

The Ministry of Health is seeking to determine whether the case of the first recorded death in Panama - school principal, Norato González- was a community broadcast, which would indicate that his infection may have occurred in the week of February 16.

The number of contacts of the infected that on Tuesday was 72,  has now doubled, because authorities of the Ministry of Health indicated that for each contagion there is an average of 10 contacts reports La Critica.

The Ministry of Health says that of every 100 people that the virus could affect, 80 would present mild symptoms, 15 moderate symptoms, and 5 critical symptoms.

Panama infectologist Xavier Sáez-Llorens said that the case of the deceased teacher r Norato González is vital to obtain the information to determine if there is community transmission, to know if he or a relative traveled.   For a person to die from Covid-19, it takes at least 10 - 21 days.

That means that Professor Norato, who died on March 8, had already been ill for three weeks and if it is not shown that there is a link to a trip, it suggests that there would be community transmission in Panama, the specialist warned.