Cuba will enter the post-COVID-19 “new normal” next Monday, except for Havana and the two central provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus, the government announced this Thursday, without yet giving a specific date for the reopening of borders, closed since April. The capital, the main gateway to the country and the only destination where U.S. airlines are allowed to fly, will go to phase 3 of recovery which includes almost total opening of services and productive activities, but at the moment it does not foresee the restart of international flights. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1314528813943066629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1314528813943066629%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_2&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-entra-en-la-nueva-normalidad-menos-en-la-habana-sancti-spiritus-y-ciego-de-avila%2F In a two-hour television appearance, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero explained that under the “new normal” PCR tests will be carried out on all travelers arriving on the island, who will wait for the result in hotels or in their homes under health surveillance rather than in state isolation centers as before. The prime minister, however, did not specify whether as of Monday the airports in the rest of the country will come into operation, most of them certified under the new health protocols to reduce the risks of spreading the virus. Cuba’s airspace and ports have been closed since last April, with the exception of tourism...

Russia will deliver seven locomotives to Cuba at the end of this year, as part of an action plan to restore and modernize the railway infrastructure on the island by 2021, the Russian Ministry of Transportation announced this Thursday in a statement. In a meeting between Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas with Russian Deputy Minister of Transportation Dmitri Zverev, the progress between the Russian Railways and the Union of Cuban Railways was “emphasized when working on a project to restore and modernize the island’s railway infrastructure.” The two sides also stressed the “importance of the early start of relevant work” in this area. “For this, Russian Railways and the Union of Cuban Railways will develop an action plan for 2021 aimed at starting the project,” said the Russian Ministry of Transportation. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/empresa-de-ferrocarriles-de-rusia-podria-abrir-oficina-en-cuba/ The representative of the Russian company Sinara-Transport Machines, also present at the meeting, addressed the renovation of the locomotive fleet, the modernization of the depot and the training of specialists from the Union of Cuban Railways. Plans to implement more projects in the field of maritime transportation were also discussed, in agreement with the Russian Government, and the development in the near future of a roadmap for...

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected this Wednesday the report of the UN International Mission that denounces serious violations of human rights in Venezuela, considering that it is a “politically motivated document.” The report on the “alleged Independent International Mission” of the UN in Venezuela “lacks technical rigor, objectivity and impartiality,” according to the foreign minister, who expressed his disagreement through a message on Twitter. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1308735928937197569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1308735928937197569%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-rechazo-informe-sobre-violaciones-de-derechos-humanos-en-venezuela%2F “We reject this politically motivated document, part of the discrediting campaign led by the U.S. against that brotherly people and government,” he concluded. Cuba’s reaction came a few days after the publication of the report of the International Mission to analyze possible human rights violations in Venezuela, which details crimes against humanity committed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela and Cuba have maintained a close political and economic alliance for two decades, a closeness that in the last two years has motivated the United States to tighten sanctions against the Caribbean island, whose government it accuses of propping up Chavismo in power. https://oncubanews.com/cuba-ee-uu/cuba-acusa-a-eeuu-de-crear-el-clima-para-una-intervencion-militar-en-venezuela/ The document, presented yesterday before the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council, denounces extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, torture and other crimes committed by the Venezuelan regime. To...

Cuba is having difficulties meeting its obligations with Russia due to the U.S. economic embargo and the coronavirus pandemic, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas admitted yesterday during a meeting with the speaker of the Russian Senate, Valentina Matviyenko. “These are two factors that are affecting our economy and having an impact on our bilateral economic relations, because as a result we have had some delays in this year 2020 to meet our obligations,” said Cabrisas, as reported to EFE by the Russian Senate press department. https://twitter.com/AnaTeresitaGF/status/1308008233894907904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1308008233894907904%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-justifica-atrasos-en-el-cumplimiento-de-obligaciones-con-rusia%2F Due to this situation “and in accordance with existing regulations and mechanisms,” said the senior Cuban official, “all our exchange, our trade, is practically paralyzed.” Cabrisas, who arrived in Russia to participate in the meeting between co-chairs of the intergovernmental commission with his Russian counterpart, Yuri Borisov, warned that “the worst thing is that it is difficult to predict when we will be able to overcome the impact of the pandemic not only in Cuba, but also in general.” However, he affirmed that Havana is confident it will meet its commitments in the future and affirmed that “we are convinced that we will succeed.” Despite these difficulties, both parties noted the good level...

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced this Monday the “irresponsible behavior” of the United States government. He said it during a virtual appearance in the special session of the United Nations General Assembly for the commemoration of its 75th anniversary. “It is the greatest danger to international peace and security. It promotes conflicts, unconventional and commercial wars and imposes severe unilateral coercive measures and squanders, in its arms race, essential resources for the sustainable development of our peoples,” said the Cuban minister. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1308205044702031874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1308205047344328704%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Fcanciller-de-cuba-critica-conducta-irresponsable-de-estados-unidos%2F He also pointed out that Washington refuses to cooperate in confronting the multiple crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and does not recognize important agreements on the environment, disarmament and arms control, while leaving international forums such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and the Human Rights Council. “It would seem that it is at war with the planet, its vital resources and its inhabitants,” he added in his appearance from Havana.  Rodríguez also denounced that the current U.S. administration has increased its hostility against Cuba to “qualitatively superior” levels, as well as intensifying its economic, commercial and financial blockade and attacking the island’s medical cooperation and the governments that request it. “It interferes in...

The state of Florida (U.S.) reached 683,754 confirmed cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and 13,459 deaths from the COVID-19 disease this Sunday, and maintains the downward trend of daily positive cases, reported the state’s Department of Health. The agency specified that 2,521 new cases and 9 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours. Miami-Dade County, the most affected by the coronavirus in Florida, reached 3,055 deaths and 166,881 cases. This is followed by neighboring Broward County, with 75,682 SARS-CoV-2 cases and 1,320 deaths. The Florida Department of Health reported this Saturday a 4.64% rate of positive cases in one day. Since March 1, when the first case was registered in Florida, more than 5.1 million tests have been performed. The number of pathogen-positive patients currently hospitalized has decreased more than 70% since July, according to the Agency for Healthcare Administration. There are 2,285 current hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19, out of a total of 42,453 during the pandemic, it specified. https://oncubanews.com/mundo/ee-uu/florida/cae-a-siete-el-numero-de-muertes-en-un-dia-en-florida-por-la-covid-19/ On the other hand, compared to the first week of August, in the first week of September there was a 74% decrease in the average number of reported COVID-19-related deaths, the Florida Department of Health noted....

The Cuban authorities extended for another fifteen days the strong restrictive measures decreed to contain the outbreaks of coronavirus in Havana, which were initially going to be in force from September 1 to 15 and will now remain until the 30th of this month. The governor of Havana, Reinaldo García Zapata, said in a television appearance that the decision was made because “it has not been possible to contain the spread of the epidemic in the city,” where there is a worrying spread of infections, with cases in the city’s 15 municipalities. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/havana-and-its-harsh-confinement-due-to-covid-19-outbreaks/ Havana, considered the Cuban epicenter of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic last March, had to cancel its reopening earlier this month due to several outbreaks that spread to other regions of the country, which already has a total of 4,593 confirmed patients and 106 deceased. The measures in force since last September 1 in the capital are the most severe applied since the beginning of the pandemic, and include a night curfew between seven in the evening and five in the morning, the paralyzation of public transportation, the increase in distance work and maximum restrictions on entering and leaving the city, which has been cut...

Cuba has had a tremendous “shock” due to the drop in tourism, an activity that the coronavirus is going to deal a very hard blow, according to UN Undersecretary General Luis Felipe López-Calva, in an interview with EFE. COVID-19 caused a 15% drop in air traffic in the Caribbean, a disaster for a region in which tourism in some countries accounts for 50% of their economy and which has generated an unpredictable impact in the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The official, also regional director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Latin America and the Caribbean, pointed out that the crisis caused by the new coronavirus has had a greater impact on the Caribbean region, since it includes the countries in the world with greater dependence on tourism, which makes it necessary to look for alternative solutions. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/first-flight-with-canadian-tourists-arrives-today-at-cayo-coco/ How is COVID-19 affecting the tourism sector in the Caribbean? One of the sectors most affected by this pandemic has been tourism and it has affected many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Costa Rica and Mexico, for example, have a very strong sector in tourism, very affected. For both the Dominican Republic and Cuba, the foreign exchange from tourism...

Havana is subject to the most restrictive measures imposed by the Cuban government for at least 15 days since the beginning of the pandemic, which include a curfew as of 7:00 p.m., the prohibition to leave the city and hefty fines for non-compliance. The authorities affirm that the rebound in coronavirus cases in the capital (they went from reaching zero in mid-July to registering several dozen a day in the second half of August) justify the restrictions that will remain in force in the first half of September. Curfew and fines From seven in the evening to five in the morning the streets must be empty, under surveillance by the police, who will punish anyone who goes out with fines of between 2,000 and 3,000 Cuban pesos (between 80 and 120 dollars), a high amount in a country where the average state salary does not reach 45 dollars. In the case of children, the elderly and people with disabilities, they may not go out at any time; the use of recreational and sports areas will also be restricted, alcoholic beverages can’t be consumed in public places, and no kind of parties will be allowed. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/gobierno-de-la-habana-endurece-sanciones-para-frenar-contagios-de-coronavirus/ Likewise, entry and exit to...

Except for Havana―the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic on the island―and a few other towns, Cuba returned to the classrooms this Tuesday amid a second wave of coronavirus infections after more than six months of an unprecedented early closure. With a mandatory mask and received by health workers at the entrance, hundreds of thousands of students returned to schools in central and eastern Cuba this Tuesday. This atypical “back to school” also includes some western territories, where most of the active cases of the virus are concentrated. https://twitter.com/CubaMined/status/1300841463652249601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300841463652249601%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fla-atipica-vuelta-a-las-aulas-en-cuba%2F The recent outbreaks of coronavirus will keep some 355,000 students from Havana at home, but also from six towns in Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Matanzas (west) and Villa Clara (center) with local transmission of the disease. The capital’s universities will not reopen their doors until the health situation improves in the city, under new restrictive measures as of this Tuesday to try to control the coronavirus outbreaks in its fifteen municipalities. The pandemic, with already 4,065 positive cases and 95 dead, has achieved what decades of the U.S. embargo and economic crisis have not been able to do: traditional massive parades, religious celebrations and schools have been closed, an alternative to which...

Help us keep OnCuba alive Cuba sent a new health team of 212 doctors to Venezuela. They will join the island's health professionals who support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in that South American country. "A new team of 212 doctors from #Cuba will support our brothers, the people and government of #Venezuela, in the confrontation with # COVID19," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on Twitter this Monday. The head of Cuban diplomacy added that the island's health professionals who arrived in Caracas yesterday “will reinforce the work of the ‘Barrio Adentro’ mission. Solidarity and cooperation: bases of this joint effort”. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1295412422380052483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1295412422380052483%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-envia-nueva-brigada-a-venezuela-para-enfrentar-la-covid-19%2F This new group of doctors is part of the international contingent "Henry Reeve" who has traveled abroad to combat the pandemic since March, and who is part of the 1,000 doctors expected to go to work in Venezuela this year to join the mission "Barrio Adentro”, as reported by state media. A specialized technical delegation traveled to Venezuela last March, after the detection of the first positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, to guide the 20,000 Cuban collaborators who provide service in that country; recalls the Cuban News Agency (ACN). ACN also points out that Cuban doctors in...

Help us keep OnCuba alive Virus particles usually spread on the air through dust, fibers, and other microscopic particles, according to an investigation carried out by the University of California at Davis (United States) and published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday. The findings have important implications for understanding how flu and the new coronavirus are transmitted. The flu virus is thought to be spread indirectly from the droplets that someone breathes out or through objects called fomites, such as doorknobs or used tissues. However, little was known about which forms of infection are the most important until now, and, depending on the type of virus (flu or coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV2), the form of infection may be different. William Ristenpart, Chemical Engineering professor at the University of California, noted that airborne transmission was previously thought to occur due to respiratory droplets emitted by coughing, sneezing, or talking. That is why transmission through the dust "opens up entirely new areas of research and has profound implications for the way laboratory experiments and epidemiological investigations of outbreaks are interpreted". The research also studied whether small non-respiratory particles called "aerosol fomites" could carry the flu virus among guinea pigs. "It is...

Help us keep OnCuba alive "All brains are different", says to EFE Raúl González, one of the main researchers of a project on brain development in adolescence. The research has an object of study of almost 12,000 American children, and it will last at least 10 years. The study, known by the acronym ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development), began in 2015. It has just obtained the necessary funds to continue at least until the minors have reached the age of 20. González was born in Cuba in 1975, and he arrived in the United States at the age of five. Now, he leads a team of 14 researchers from Florida International University (FIU) assigned for the ABCD project. Undated photograph provided by the International University of Florida that shows Professor Raúl González. Photo: International University of Florida / EFE. In an interview with Efe, he highlights the enormous possibilities that have been opened for science with this unique project, which includes the participation of institutions from all over the United States, in addition to FIU. 140 terabytes of data The National Institutes of Health have now awarded 290 million dollars (about 244 million euros) to guarantee the continuity of ABCD...

“We’re not saying that (transgenic technology) is the only way, but that it is one more alternative, a complement to conventional agriculture, and its link with the moment the country is going through is very important,” said Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Armando Rodríguez.

Help us keep OnCuba alive Russia aims to have on the market the first COVID-19 vaccine before October, director general of the Russian Fund of Direct Investments, Kirill Dmitriev, announced this Thursday. “Yesterday we successfully completed the first phase of the clinical trials of the vaccine developed by the Gamalei Institute and we hope to finish the second phase on August 3, then we will immediately launch the third phase, and not only in Russia, but in a series of other countries,” Dmitriev said at a teleconference press conference. He added that scientists hope to soon have regulatory approval for the massive use of the vaccine “in August or September” so that it can be on the market before October. According to the official, the Russian vaccine will be “unique” because it is the first in the world to be tested on animals―hamsters―infected with a fatal dose of the virus after receiving the vaccine and they did not get sick. “Naturally, there is still a long way to go to show that effect in humans at various stages,” said Dmitriev, who added that he has already received a dose of the Russian experimental vaccine because he is convinced of its...

Help us keep OnCuba alive here The Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced this Monday that it has started the third phase of clinical trials of two coronavirus vaccines that it is researching in collaboration with China, a process for which they have more than 15,000 volunteers. “We have more than 15,000 volunteers to carry out the tests and we will guarantee the best scientific standards for medical studies, and if the safety and efficacy of the vaccine is proven during this phase, the test will be considered successful,” Emirati Minister of Health Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Owais said in a press conference. Al Owais also pledged to ensure the safety of the group of volunteers who will test the two vaccines, both in their third phase of testing by the Chinese state pharmaceutical company Sinopharm and the Emirati artificial intelligence company Group 42. China had already announced that it was testing in the Emirates a vaccine jointly developed by the Wuhan Institutes of Biological Products and of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. https://oncubanews.com/coronavirus/prueban-en-varios-continentes-vacunas-contra-el-nuevo-coronavirus/ A month ago, the Wuhan Biological Products Institute, affiliated with Sinopharm, announced that the vaccine had not shown any serious side effects...

Help us keep OnCuba alive A court in Palma de Mallorca has dismissed Meliá Hoteles’ claim regarding its dispute with the Cuban Sánchez Hill family, former owners of expropriated land in Cuba, where the Spanish company operates two state-owned hotels, and continues the litigation in Spain. The heirs of Rafael Lucas Sánchez Hill, who owned the Santa Lucía sugar estate, expropriated by the Cuban government, sued Meliá before Spanish civil justice to obtain compensation for the use of a property that they consider to have been taken from them illegitimately. The Paradisus Río de Oro and Sol Río de Luna y Mares hotel complexes are built on these lands, in the province of Holguín. These facilities are owned by the state-owned company Gaviota and managed by Meliá Hotels International. Meliá asked the judge to refer a preliminary question to the Court of Justice of the European Union, arguing that the lawsuit should be framed within Community law, an end that has now been rejected by the court, which initially shelved the case. The judge complied with the request made by Meliá and the prosecution, which alleged lack of jurisdiction and international judicial competence, but had to retake it at the...

Help us keep OnCuba alive Amazon and the United States Government reached an agreement this Wednesday that the company will pay 134,523 dollars as a penalty for having bypassed the prohibitions on maintaining commercial ties with various countries and diplomatic entities, including the Cuban embassy. The company based in Seattle, the United States, provided its services and sold its products to people who were in countries or regions with which the government prohibits maintaining commercial ties without prior authorization, or with people employed by embassies of these countries. According to a Department of the Treasury release, Amazon sold to individuals in Iran, Syria and Crimea (annexed by Russia) and to others who were employed by the embassies of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, despite such operations being prohibited with all of them. Given these violations of the law, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (dependent on the Treasury) and the firm that Jeff Bezos leads started conversations that finally resulted this Wednesday in the agreement by which Amazon will pay the government 134,523 dollars. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/lawsuit-against-amazon-under-helms-burton-act-dismissed/ According to what the Treasury has pointed out, Amazon’s sales to these individuals would not have occurred with the clear intention of breaking...

Help us keep OnCuba alive The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today the creation of an independent commission to review the organization’s performance during the current pandemic. The announcement comes two days after the U.S. notified its withdrawal from the body because of what it considers to be alleged malpractice. The commission, Tedros said in a public appearance announced just a few minutes in advance, will be chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1281184675554361345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281184735524503557%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fmundo%2Fpresionada-por-eeuu-la-oms-crea-comision-para-revisar-desempeno-contra-la-covid-19%2F Tedros, who proposed a meeting of the WHO Executive Committee in September to discuss the panel’s progress, said that it was time to reflect on what the organization had done and to look for new ways to collaborate. Led by Clark and Johnson Sirleaf, along with other policy makers and experts they select, the panel will seek to understand what happened, give honest advice and help see what can be done to prevent the current tragedy from happening again in the future, indicated the Ethiopian epidemiologist. The two co-chairs declared after the announcement that the entrusted work constitutes “a complex challenge,” in which, in the...

Help us keep OnCuba alive here Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the U.S. diplomat who supervised the Barack Obama administration (2009-2017) normalization process of relations with Cuba, pointed out that the current policy towards the island is “feckless” and based on “domestic politics.” DeLaurentis regretted this Tuesday in an editorial published in the Miami Herald that the Donald Trump administration is deporting Cubans seeking asylum in the United States, limiting the ability of Cuban-Americans to send remittances to the island and restricting trade opportunities and travel. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/u-s-deports-119-cubans-the-second-group-during-trump-administration/ “The administration’s hypocrisy is breathtaking,” wrote the diplomat, who led the U.S. legation in Cuba between 2014 and 2017. He criticized that those who direct the “maximum pressure” policy towards Cuba know it will not lead to a regime change, that rather “it strengthens Cuba’s (and Iran’s) hand in Venezuela, with Russia and China occupying the vacuum we left behind.” He regretted that “they nevertheless continue down this path, trying to manipulate an important political bloc understandably frustrated and impatient for change on the island they love.” DeLaurentis was a key actor in the bilateral rapprochement process initiated in December 2014 by former President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro, which took a complete turn under...

Help us keep OnCuba alive The large Sahara dust cloud affecting the Caribbean started dissipating slowly this Thursday over Cuba, but its influence continues preventing rains and is raising the temperature on the island, which has registered possible all-time records for June. The phenomenon, considered the largest in recent decades, has already covered the entire island, although it is expected that in the next few hours the concentration of dust will decrease and humidity will increase, the Cuban Institute of Meteorology (INSMET) reported. The INSMET forecasted, in addition, that the little cloudiness in general and the high temperatures will be maintained. The east and center of the country have been the most affected. Images published in the local press and on social networks show milky-hued skies instead of the usual blue, due to the high concentration of particles suspended in the atmosphere. The province of Guantánamo, in the easternmost part of the country, is the one that has felt the most harmful effects of the cloud, with a record of 37.4 degrees Celsius, unusual for this time of the year. The INSMET pointed out that 30.2 degrees were reached yesterday in Santiago de Cuba. In that eastern capital, dust limited...

Help us keep OnCuba alive here Cuba will reopen operations to international tourism in several of its nearby keys as of next July 1 within the progressive post-COVID-19 plan of de-escalation that started this Thursday in all the island’s territories, except for the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. The Cuban government announced last week the launch of a recovery process―which in its first stage includes three phases―after declaring the coronavirus pandemic controlled in the country, currently without active cases in 13 of its 15 provinces and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. The reopening of tourism, one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic in Cuba, in the first phase will be only for the local market, with the application of a series of measures and hygienic-sanitary protocols, as explained by Minister of Tourism Juan Carlos García Granda in a television appearance. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/coronavirus-tomorrow-cuba-starts-its-de-escalation-except-for-havana-and-matanzas/ Operations for foreign visitors will begin on July 1―in the second phase of the de-escalation―and as announced by the Cuban minister of tourism, as of this Thursday tourism agencies will be able to start marketing visits to the tourist destinations of Cayo Cruz, Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Largo and Cayo Santa María....

Help us keep OnCuba alive here Cuba will start tomorrow, Thursday 18, its progressive reopening plan after the coronavirus epidemic, except in the territories of Havana and Matanzas, the only ones in the country that still report cases of the disease, as announced this Tuesday by Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. The first of the three phases that make up the “post-COVID-19 recovery stage will take effect after analyzing health indicators such as the incidence rate per inhabitant and the number of active cases in each province,” Marrero said in a state television report. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1273215952189116417 Cuba, which closed its borders on April 2, but at no time has decreed mandatory confinement, to date has 2,273 confirmed COVID-19 infections and 84 deaths, with a recovery rate of 87.8% and 193 active cases of the disease at this time, the majority in the capital (154). “We are asking the population for the maximum collaboration in the need to not lower their guard, maintain physical distance and sanitary measures in order to start this gradual transition to normality, minimizing the risks,” said the prime minister in a meeting presided over by President Miguel Díaz-Canel. The government recently declared the coronavirus epidemic under control...

Help us keep OnCuba alive here A brigade of Cuban doctors who participated for more than two months in the fight against COVID-19 in Lombardy, the region of Italy most affected by the pandemic, returned Monday to Havana, where Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel welcomed them through a television broadcast they saw at the airport. The 52-member health brigade which is part of the Henry Reeve internationalist contingent ―specialized in disasters and serious epidemics―was the first to leave Cuba to assist in controlling the pandemic at the request of the Italian authorities. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1270140921116594184 The reception of the brigade of 36 doctors, 15 nurses and a logistics specialist at José Martí airport in Havana had extensive media coverage in the Caribbean country, although it was marked by strict biosecurity measures according to established protocols. The reception President Miguel Díaz-Canel, accompanied by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, Public Health Minister José Ángel Portal, and other high government representatives, participated through a video appearance in the official ceremony welcoming the medical brigade―broadcast live on state television. In his message, the Cuban president highlighted the “example” and the “intense, risky and heroic” work carried out by the doctors, as well as the “deep rejoicing” for their...

Help us keep OnCuba alive here More than 300 Cuban health workers traveled this Thursday to Kuwait and the Republic of Guinea Conakry to assist in the control of COVID-19 in those countries. The two groups, mostly female, are made up of specialists with experience in other missions outside the island as part of the Henry Reeve international medical contingent. From Havana, 21 health workers (11 doctors and 10 nurses) left for Guinea Conakry, a country where Cubans already fought Ebola between 2014 and 2016, and with which Cuba has several cooperation agreements. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1268742898092314624 Another 96 doctors and 198 nursing graduates will join the 36 collaborators already working in Kuwait, specified the state-run Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. “Cuba, without neglecting the protection of its people, despite the fierce U.S. blockade and the dirty campaign to discredit the altruism of its medical cooperation, has not ceased in its effort to support the world,” First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Ana Teresita González said at one of the farewells. These are the 33rd and 34th brigades of the Henry Reeve contingent that have left from Cuba to help control the COVID-19 in response to requests from several governments....