Ministry of Health of Panama announces curfew and dry law

Credit: STR / AFP via Getty Images

(CNN Spanish) -

The Minister of Health of Panama Luis Francisco Sucre announced the implementation of a curfew from 9 at night to 5 in the morning in the province of Panama Oeste, as well as decreeing a dry law that prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., starting on Friday, December 4.

The government's decision, announced at a press conference, is based, as explained by the health minister, on the increase in the retransmission rate of the coronavirus and the increase in the number of cases, which he assured is due to the behavior of a part of the population in West Panama and what he said has been shown on national television at parties and meetings.

Until Wednesday, December 2, the epidemiological balance of the Ministry of Health reported that of the more than 169,339 confirmed cases of covid 19 since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 80,000 are from the province of Panama, and more than 31,000 correspond to the province of Panama Oeste.

• MIRA: The chancellor and vice chancellor of Panama resign

"We are facing a rebound," said Minister Luis Francisco Sucre in a conference broadcast on the national chain.

That day, 16 new deaths were registered for a total of 3,114 fatalities;

2,028 new cases and 19,649 active cases.

According to the latest report, there are 18,430 people in isolation, of them 17,797 at home and 633 in hotels.

Meanwhile, there are 1,219 hospitalized, of which 1,055 are in ward and 164 in intensive care.

coronaviruscovid-19