We report an epidemiologic analysis of 4,210 cases of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and genetic analysis of 313 new near-complete virus genomes in Panama during March 9-April 16, 2020. Although containment measures reduced R0 and Rt, they did not interrupt virus spread in the country.
Keywords: Bayesian analysis; COVID-19 transmission; Panama; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus disease; early cryptic transmission; epidemic dynamics; genomic diversity; outbreaks; respiratory infections; viruses.