LatinNews Daily - 06 January 2022

In brief: Panama tallies cost of pandemic response

* Panama’s Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo has said that the government led by President Laurentino Cortizo assigned US$3.54bn in total to go on its response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Of the total, he said that US$2.1bn corresponded to financing the Plan Panamá Solidario programme, which provides assistance to those affected by the pandemic in the form of food bags and money transfers, as well as “other activities”.