17 March 2020 – President orders curfew to combat COVID-19

Type of Intervention: Executive Order, Regulation
Sectors Involved: Education, Executive Office, Finance/Economy, Health, Local Government, Private Sector and Businesses, Police and Interior Affairs, Transportation
Intervention Categories: Social and physical distancing measures; Domestic travel
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: Ministry of Health

Overview: Executive Decree declaring a curfew in the Republic of Panama and other provisions.
The curfew is throughout the national territory to the entire population from 9:00pm to 5:00am, with excemptions: public force, public servers to attend the emergency, all health personnel, civil protection, migration, water and sewerage service, urban sanitation, 911, panama canal authority, airports and ports, mayors and congresspeople.
Hospitals, health care centers, laboratories and veterinarians.
Pharmaceutical industry, pharmacies, drugstores, companies dedicated to the production of disinfectants and hygiene products.
Public transport
Gas stations
Markets, supermarkets, markets and grocery stores
Restaurants with home delivery and companies dedicated to home delivery.
Hotels for lodging and feeding of guests
Security and transportation companies
Banks and credit unions
Agri-food industry including distribution
Agricultural industry, agricultural work and its distribution
Industry dedicated to energy production
Telecommunications
Air, sea and land cargo import and export industry
Humanitarian transport

Full details here: http://www.minsa.gob.pa/sites/default/files/general/decreto_ejecutivo_490_de_17_de_marzo_de_2020.pdf

Other links: 1
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Advice of EXTERNAL expert advisor or advisory committee, Learning from other jurisdictions, Scientific Evidence (e.g. academic paper, report)
Source of Evidence or Justification: World Health Organisation, National – government, International – government
Evidence/Justification: Daily analysis of all the information from reliable sources, exchange of experiences and the expertise of the members of the Advisory Committee, which issues a recommendation according to the timely evaluation carried out, also the evolution and behavior of the epidemic at the local level, number of cases, hospitalizations, deaths by CoVid-19.
The Gorgas Institute for Health Studies achieved the sequencing of 41 complete SARV-CoV2 genomes, which allowed us to know that the outbreak in Panama was due to the introduction of 8 different locations; 4 from the United States, 3 from Europe and 1 from China.
The Panamanian government’s strategy before COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 will be more drastic. The authorities would adopt measures of suppression or total quarantine, to prevent the spread and contagion among citizens, just as China, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong did.
Experts implemented the mathematical model of Imperial College London, that stated out that “either a change of strategy or more than a quarter of a million people will die from the coronavirus.” In the United States, this model determines that between a million and 1.2 million people could die if immediate measures are not taken, that is, more control.

At the time of implemetation of the Decree 490, the authorities announced that there are a total of 109 positive cases with COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 in Panama, 55 are men and 54 are women. Of the patients, 92 are in home isolation, with mild symptoms of the disease. Another 17 patients are hospitalized, 8 in the ward and 9 in intensive care. The average age range ranges from 34 to 77 years.