As the number of cases of coronavirus, continues to escalate The main hospitals in the metropolitan area of ​​Panama are near breaking point with intensive care units (ICUs) at more than 90% capacity.

Julio Sandoval, the national coordinator of Intensive Care Units and member of the Coronavirus Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) at a  conference "Covid-19 in Panama", organized by the Association of Medical Students from the University of Panama, said that across the country there is a 39% (179) availability of beds for ICUs and semi-intensive care units, out of a total of 458.

However, said  Sandoval this percentage is misleading because in the metropolitan region the main hospitals are at the limit, even with the areas enabled in private hospitals to serve patients with Covid-19. The projections prepared by the Minsa advisory team show that, if the transmission of Covid-19 is not stopped, by June 30 there will be 1,337 new hospitalizations in the ward and 334 in the ICU.

The news comes as the whiff of scandal continues around the flawed purchase of ventilators, and the construction of a modular hospital intended to treat coronavirus patients 

Until Monday, the Minsa reported a total of 551 hospitalized, of which 449 are in the ward and 102 ine ICU.