Panamanian president warns not to lower guard against COVID-19

PANAMA CITY, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo on Thursday characterized as positive the results of the country's management and health strategy to curb COVID-19, but urged Panamanians not to lower their guard because "we have not won the war."

"Without health, economic reactivation is impossible," Cortizo stressed during the virtual inauguration of the new board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama.

The president added that "the reality in the world, the region and neighboring countries confirms that we have many battles ahead of us," in reference to the impact of the pandemic.

He pointed out that his administration's priority has been to avoid the collapse of the country's health system, and noted that its vaccination strategy is working as planned.

The Panamanian government has authorized the purchase of more than 9 million doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 from different pharmaceutical companies, mainly Pfizer and AstraZeneca, Cortizo said, which will allow for the inoculation of over 90 percent of the population, "or much more than what is necessary to obtain so-called herd immunity."

According to a report issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Health, Panama has accumulated 363,895 COVID-19 cases and 6,222 deaths.