When everything seemed to be going well. A Panamanian health team that raffled it off by locking up 4 million inhabitants for almost a year already had the virus on the ropes, but the Covid enemy, strengthened, found the right space to enter the country.
By chance, like criminals, stowaway through the Tocumen International Airport, the dreaded Brazilian strain.
See for yourself, as if that were not enough, in pairs P1 and P2.
The news is confirmed by the director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute, Juan Miguel Pascale, stating that variant P1 Sars Cov-2 was detected in Panama, in a woman from Brazil, and P2.
Of the nine cases detected with the Brazilian strain, three are family and the other six remaining were found in two different locations in Panama City.
Artists protest in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture to demand respect for their right to work, given the numerous restrictions due to the pandemic and the resulting crisis, in Panama City (Panama).
“We are sequencing random samples. If we continue to have positive results with these variants, we could say that there is community transmission. What we have to do is continue working with the genomic surveillance process,” he added.
For the scientist, the Brazilian variant P2, found in three cases, is “a little less transmissible.”
Poster of premises for rent in Panama City, where the pandemic has bankrupted thousands of businesses, triggered unemployment and brought a fiscal deterioration that cost the rating downgrade of its economy.
In response, the Ministry of Health temporarily suspended the entry into the national territory of any person who has stayed or passed through any country in South America in the last 15 days. This measure is excepted to nationals and residents of the isthmus.
Meanwhile, the traveler who wishes to enter Panama must present the negative PCR test up to 48 hours prior to the trip, in addition to assuming the cost of another PCR or antigen test at the port of entry, prior to registering in migration.
It was confirmed that two of the people who are infected with the Brazilian variant are in intensive care.
At present, in Panama there are four known variants: the United Kingdom, the South African, the Brazilian and the Californian “
Until March 31, Panama reported 355,051 accumulated cases of Covid-19, some 6,114 deaths and 343,904 have recovered.
View of the center of Panama City, with restrictions due to the pandemic.
But, it is not all bad news. The Panamanian researcher, in an interview with a television channel, stated that “recent published studies have shown that antibodies generated by people who received the Pfizer vaccine can efficiently block and neutralize the Brazilian variant of Covid-19” .
In Panama, since February, the vaccination program began: the first, the health system, are made up of the security forces and then those over 60 years old, the most vulnerable group and with the highest mortality at the time of contracting the disease, the Covid-19.
The vaccination system is organized through the towns with the highest density of citizens over 60 years of age, regardless of their nationality.
A nurse vaccinates a woman against Covid-19 during a vaccination session for the population over 60 years of age at the Roberto Duran Coliseum in the Juan Díaz district of Panama City.
To do this, it is necessary to enter the Panama Solidario platform and fill in the information. Your appointment for your first dose arrives through your mobile.
Nationals must present their identity card, while foreigners, at the time of going to the vaccination center, must carry a proof that they live in the aforementioned district.
Panama has 671 townships, in which a minimum of 20,000 inhabitants live.
A person receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 in the San miguelito district in the Torrijos Carter neighborhood in Panama City.
The battle for vaccines
The great battles to obtain vaccines. Another who raffled off is Chancellor Erika Mouynes, who faced the great powers, which are monopolizing this antidote, by guaranteeing vaccines for the population of this small country.
He did it, and he did it well, against all odds, with well-designed strategies. Panamanian society now understands the great value of the Foreign Ministry.
To date, we are one of the countries that has placed the highest number of vaccines on the shoulder, so it is presumed that “herd immunity” will soon be achieved.
A nurse applies the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid at the Santo Tomás Hospital (HST) in Panama City.
Meanwhile, the Panamanian president, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, closed his ears to the “siren songs” and decided that it was necessary to strengthen the health system, but he was still worried about the economy, today deteriorated like that of most of the countries of Latin America.
Cortizo Cohen seeks a way out of the economic crisis. The best it has, the privileged geopolitical position of Panama, which unites in 8 hours two oceanic masses, the Atlantic with the Pacific. He is sure that whoever controls the seas controls trade, and the Panama Canal slips there.
People work in front of a commercial premises with a rental notice, in the middle of the economic crisis of the Covid in Panama City.
But despite all efforts, the damage counts are painful. The blow was hard, very hard, we still have not recovered, and the Panamanian people continue to resist, without losing hope, but fearing the arrival of a new outbreak.
But he fights, with his best weapons, the use of face masks, a mask, social distancing and hand washing.
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