Given the increase in COVID-19 cases, the Social Security Fund (CSS) announced on Friday, January 5,  that it has enabled two wards containing 30 beds at the Arnulfo Arias Madrid hospital complex, located on the Transístmica highway.

 Five new deaths from COVID-19 in Panama and the first case of the JN.1 lineage is reported.

The latest Epidemiology report from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) reports that during epidemiological week No. 52, from December 24 to December 20, 2,234 new positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.

The positivity rate was 35.9%, out of a total of 6,216 tests performed, exceeding the positivity threshold recommended by the World Health Organization, which is 5%.

Yelkys Gill, national executive director of CSS Health Services and Benefits, explained that this measure joins those already recently resumed, such as the use of masks in facilities for patients and officials with respiratory symptoms, as well as swab testing As reported, the strategy is accompanied by guidance from CSS officials on the correct use of face masks and the importance of hand washing, to avoid diseases such as flu, colds and covid-19.

Gill reiterated that there is a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the country, including patients who need hospitalization. “We are also working with the medical directors of all the hospitals in the country to articulate the Covid Surveillance Committees,”

“We are already seeing a trend towards an increase in cases and we are acting quickly,” said Darío Flores, an infectious disease doctor at the CSS.