With 86 new infections and almost all the provinces involved, Cuba ends a week in which 650 cases positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus were identified, 194 more than in the previous week, according to Dr. Francisco Durán in his weekly appearance from the Cuban television studios. This is a period in which all provinces have experienced “discrete increases,” in the words of the national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), who points to Havana as the territory with the highest number of infections in this period. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1337421091921334272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1337421091921334272%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-todas-las-provincias-experimentaron-discretos-incrementos-por-contagios-de-covid-19-esta-semana%2F Although the capital is among the seven provinces with the highest transmission of the disease, in the statistics collected during the last fifteen days by the MINSAP, Pinar del Río continues to lead. This province’s incidence rate is 18.33 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Artemisa (10.10) and the Isla de La Juventud Special Municipality (9.60). The imported cases are on the rise, but decreased compared to the information provided the previous week, when 265 infections were registered in the last seven days. The United States, Russia, Mexico, Spain and Germany are having the greatest presence at this point, a figure that corresponds to the increase in travelers from those...

Private entrepreneurs and cooperatives in Cuba have only managed to sign 25 export contracts, despite the growing interest of these types of enterprises to participate in foreign trade activities. “To date, the 37 companies designated to carry out export and import services to non-state forms of management have received 3,471 interests to develop some type of operation, and of these, 228 belong to non-agricultural cooperatives,” said the general director of foreign trade of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex), Vivian Herrera, cited by Granma. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/frutas-y-hortalizas-entre-las-exportaciones-del-sector-privado-cubano/ In total, Cuban entrepreneurs have signed 456 contracts with the enterprises selected as mediators between that economic sector and the international market, but most of the businesses (431) were to import the products necessary to develop their activities, according to the source. During the 1st Cuba 2020 Business Forum, held between Tuesday and Wednesday, Herrera explained that at the end of October, 493 forms of non-state management had been defined with the potential to export in sectors such as agri-food, crafts, construction, ornamentals birds, plastic products, educational toys, saddlery, restoration, glassware and upholstery services. For his part, the usufructuary Lázaro Rafael Fundora, who recently exported some of his products to markets in Spain...

In Cuba, the 2020-2021 winter harvest has been marked by limitations in the purchase of fertilizers and by the loss of crops. This will affect meeting the demand for food next year. The Director General of Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG), Miguel Rosales Román, said that various crops’ winter harvest had begun on September 1 and that it will last until February 28, 2021. With it, he said, 60 and 70% of next year’s production was being guaranteed. For the present campaign, 378,000 hectares were planned to be sown, which represents an 18% growth of the real amount sown in the previous one. Until the end of November 30, 184,000 of 217,000 hectares have been planted, a delay, he stressed, determined by the permanent rains and by the effects of Tropical Storm Eta. Under these circumstances, he said, land preparation was delayed, limiting planting and the winter harvest, which spans a period of six months. Now it should be carried out in practically 90 days. https://youtu.be/CMWEx-gxIfs There was, therefore, a decline in planting levels and a drop in yields. On the other hand, it has not been possible to import the technological packages necessary for the crops to...

The number of new infections caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Cuba dropped to 75, after the processing of 10,236 tests yesterday, according to the report issued by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). All of the positive cases correspond to Cubans, of which in 30 cases the source of infection was identified abroad; 39 were contacts of confirmed cases and in six individuals the source of infection is not specified. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1337065635852001283?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1337065635852001283%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-con-75-nuevos-casos-de-coronavirus-de-ellos-30-importados%2F Meanwhile, there was the same number of discharges (75), with which the number of people recovered from COVID-19 on the island already rises to 8,212 since the first cases were reported on March 11. By province, the distribution of those diagnosed in the last 24 hours, among which 50 were asymptomatic, is as follows: Pinar del Río (13 cases, two imported), Artemisa (2 cases, one imported), Havana (16 cases, six imported), Mayabeque (two cases), Matanzas (one case), Cienfuegos (two cases, two imported), Villa Clara (six cases, five imported), Sancti Spíritus (two cases, one imported), Ciego de Ávila (four cases, two imported), Camagüey (nine cases, five imported), Las Tunas (one imported case), Granma (two cases, one imported), Holguín (two cases, one imported), Santiago de Cuba (eight cases, one imported)...

The 2019-2020 school year in Cuba ended without reports of transmission of COVID-19, said the island’s Deputy Minister of Education, Dania López, this Wednesday. After the closure of schools last March due to the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the country, the Cuban Ministry of Education “implemented strategies to maintain teaching, such as telelessons, which guaranteed the development of the teaching-educational process,” the deputy minister said. “We needed to change and transform the school, towards the family, from the home. We also reinforced the use of audiovisual media with the capacities created by our country: an Educational Channel with national coverage, a production house that guaranteed all the necessary content to support teachers and the family, as well as a telematic network that manages an educational portal,” said López, quoted by the official newspaper Granma. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/school-year-in-cuba-continues-on-television/ The deputy minister affirmed that in the 2020-2021 academic year the island is experiencing the same epidemiological situation caused by the pandemic, so “every day we are called to strictly comply with the hygienic-sanitary measures and the permanent use of the mask.” She acknowledged the “titanic work” of the teaching staff who presented educational programs on television at a time when schools had...

Cuba is giving way to majority foreign participation in investments in key sectors such as tourism, biotechnology and wholesale trade, according to Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz. The demand for a majority Cuban presence will remain in branches such as the extraction of natural resources and the provision of public services, explains a note published by the Ministry on its website. https://twitter.com/Camara_Comercio/status/1336372554827755522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1336372554827755522%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-acepta-participacion-extranjera-mayoritaria-en-proyectos-de-inversion%2F It is a new Portfolio of Business Opportunities for the entire country, and in which tourism has the greatest number of opportunities; a total of 131 projects, as it was announced during the inauguration yesterday of the 1st Cuba Business Forum 2020. The new agenda is made up of 503 projects and has an estimated investment of 12.07 billion dollars. “The Portfolio clearly places the Mariel Special Development Zone within the strategic axis of productive transformation and international insertion, with 44 proposals, and it transpired that during 2020 it attracted foreign direct investment for more than 730.566 million dollars,” the note explained. 112 projects were incorporated, 43 more than the previous portfolio, and 72 already approved or in an advanced stage of negotiation were eliminated, according to the cited source. During the Forum, Malmierca...

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) again reported 124 new cases of coronavirus at the close of this Tuesday, equaling the record of infections in a day reached two days ago. Thus, the island exceeded 9,000 infections detected since the beginning of the pandemic (a total of 9,106), while it did not register new deaths and 90 patients were discharged. Now, the number of fatalities remains at 136 and that of recovered patients stands at 8,137. In addition, there are 4,227 patients hospitalized for epidemiological clinical surveillance in the country and active cases rose to 831, one of the highest figures in nine months of confrontation with COVID-19. Of these patients, 820 show a stable clinical evolution, while five are in critically condition and six in serious condition in intensive care, according to the MINSAP daily report. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1336711612003209219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1336711612003209219%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcoronavirus-cuba-vuelve-a-reportar-124-nuevos-casos-en-una-jornada%2F As for the 124 new cases, these were detected after 10,519 PCR tests were made, with which the island has already processed a total of 1,208,482 samples. Of these patients, 119 are Cuban and five are foreigners, while 81 were contacts of confirmed cases, 41 had their source of infection abroad and in two the origin of the contagion is unknown. 66.1%...

Cuba added 76 new coronavirus infections at the end of this Monday, 35 of them imported, in a day in which the increase in active cases of the disease on the island was maintained with 797 confirmed cases today, one of its highest daily figures in months. Now the country accumulates 8,982 positive cases since last March, of which 8,047 have recovered (89.5%) and the deaths stand at 136, after no deaths were reported in the last week. The number of infections in the last day is significantly lower than the daily record of 124 reported yesterday, although it maintains the oscillating upward trend of the last days, in which 68, 104, 79, 75 and 97 patients were diagnosed. 4,064 people remain hospitalized for clinical epidemiological surveillance. The active COVID-19 cases have gone from 516 to 797 in a week, according to the most recent report by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), which reported four patients in critical condition―including a 45-year-old Mexican―and eight in serious condition. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1336343725128044547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1336343725128044547%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcoronavirus-76-nuevos-casos-en-cuba-35-de-ellos-importados%2F The contagions reported this Tuesday were detected from the 11,342 PCR samples completed the day before, with which the island exceeded 1.1 million of these tests since the beginning of the epidemic....

The 2020-2021 school year began this Monday in Havana, atypical due to the coronavirus. The authorities have called for extreme hygienic-sanitary measures and to respect the physical distancing established in the protocols. Students must carry up to four face masks each day for their replacement, coinciding with the times for snack and lunch. According to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency, in order for the province to catch up with the rest of the territories at the conclusion of the course, some adjustments had to be made. In terms of schedules, the preschool, elementary and special education levels will remain full time in the schools. In the cases of junior and senior high school and technical vocational training, including pedagogy, the schedules have been readjusted in order to avoid overcrowding. https://youtu.be/npskHf-H6Ec The time for entering educational centers was made more flexible. In many cases, said José Ángel Ordaz, deputy director general of education in the province, it was necessary to divide enrollment into subgroups in order to respect physical distancing. To complete the teacher coverage required by these changes, he stressed, there is the support of other related professionals such as librarians, psychologists, psychopedagogy specialists and educational assistants....

Cuba paid more than 1.4 billion dollars in soy components between 2014 and 2018, which represents the largest expense in terms of animal feed imports, reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. Experts in the field presented a program that plans to increase the land for soybean cultivation to 100,000 hectares within five years, which would allow covering 100% of the oil consumed on the island, and around 25 percent of what is necessary for animal feed. “The country has to produce its animal feed, and if soy is one of its main components, then we have to produce more,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said this Saturday during the meeting with scientists and producers involved in the project. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1335621481989025793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1335621481989025793%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-importo-soya-por-valor-de-1400-millones-de-dolares-en-cuatro-anos%2F The objective of the innovation presented to the government is to achieve the sustainable production of soy with productive potential and nutritional quality for livestock feed at a local level, the source said. The program would solve the problem of supply of protein destined for pig feeding in Cuba. During the meeting, Dr. Rodolfo Ortiz explained that the cultivation of this grain on the island is very limited, since it is only planted by small and medium producers and the...

Cuba reported 124 new confirmed patients with COVID-19, the highest daily number since the coronavirus epidemic began on the island. The previous daily record of infections with the coronavirus in Cuba dated from the beginning of November (109), and the second was registered this Saturday, with 104. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1336006143215357952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1336006143215357952%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-reporta-record-diario-de-pacientes-con-la-covid-19-con-124-nuevos-casos%2F At the end of this Sunday, 4,301 patients, 869 suspects, and 771 active cases with the contagious disease were hospitalized for clinical epidemiological surveillance, according to the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) report. In the last 24 hours, 10,099 samples were studied, with which the island has processed a total of 1,186,621 PCR tests to date, and the total number of COVID-19 patients rose to 8,906, 0.75% of the people studied. According to the source, 69 of the patients diagnosed yesterday were contacts of confirmed cases, 50 arrived in Cuba with the disease and five have no specified source of infection. 73.3% (91) of the 124 cases were asymptomatic, for 5,674 patients without symptoms at the time of diagnosis. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuba-with-109-new-coronavirus-infections-the-highest-number-for-one-day/ The MINSAP report on the epidemiological situation on the island specified that 118 of the infected patients are Cubans and six are foreigners. Among them there are three critical patients―including a...

Cuba added 68 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, 40 of them with a source of contagion abroad, a trend that has been maintained on the island for weeks. In addition, no deaths were reported on the day and there were 54 medical discharges. Of the 10,009 diagnostic tests applied yesterday, there were 27 autochthonous infections, one without a specified source and 40 imported, including 5 foreigners of American, Ecuadorian and Colombian nationality, according to the daily report of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1335602820314173440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1335602820314173440%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-suma-68-nuevos-casos-de-la-covid-19-y-54-altas-medicas%2F Havana, with 28 positive cases, 20 of them imported, was once again the province with the highest number of coronavirus infections registered in a day. Since the restart of regular flights at José Martí International Airport, the number of infections originating abroad has gone up in the capital, the most populous city in the country with more than 2 million inhabitants. The city of Havana is in phase 3 of the recuperative stage―the step prior to the “new normal” ―although with some restrictions in force since the beginning of November and after spending several months under strict measures to control the disease, including a month of curfew. The rest of the provinces with reports of...

Cuba registered 104 new COVID-19 positive cases, 41 of them from the Cuban capital, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported this Saturday. The source details that at the close of yesterday 3,901 patients were hospitalized for clinical-epidemiological surveillance, 795 of them suspected of having the contagious disease and 667 active cases. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1335248616068419591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1335248616068419591%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2F%3Fp%3D315311 With these 104 diagnosed patients, Cuba accumulates 8,714 positive cases since the coronavirus epidemic began and 1,166,513 PCR samples analyzed after performing 9,386 tests during the last 24 hours. According to the MINSAP report, 102 of the newly infected are Cubans and two foreigners. Likewise, the daily report indicates that 42 people were infected with the virus outside the island. In only two cases the source of infection is not specified. Yesterday there were 51 hospital discharges, with which the patients recovered from the disease rose to 7,909. This represents 90.8% of the total of contagions. By provinces, Havana once again reported the highest number of positive cases with 41, followed by Pinar del Río and Santiago de Cuba, with 10 each. Guantánamo and Sancti Spíritus were the only provinces that did not register infections yesterday.

Cuba closes again a week with an increase in infections by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, data determined by the increasing number of imported cases: 231 of the 456 positive cases identified during this week. “There is an increase in diagnosed cases and imported cases, and this tenses the system, because the concern that exists is that the situation may continue,” said Dr. Pablo Feal Cañizares, director of the Center for the Promotion of Health and Disease Prevention of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1334889347150196739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334889347150196739%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-cierra-otra-semana-con-aumento-de-enfermos-por-covid-19%2F Most of the cases positive for the new coronavirus this week were travelers who arrived from the United States (260), Mexico (36) and Russia (35). In this regard, the MINSAP authorities insist that everyone who arrives must abide by the measures and protocols established to prevent the spread of infections, within which “we are working so that the PCR results are ready in the first 24 hours,” Feal Cañizares said. Regarding the patients diagnosed in the last 24 hours, the island’s health authorities reported 79 new cases, of which 27 were imported from Russia and Mexico. Of the total, 72 correspond to Cubans and seven to foreigners: 47 were contacts of confirmed cases and in five...

The clinical trial of the Abdala vaccine candidate, one of the four developed by Cuban scientists against COVID-19, began this Thursday at the General Saturnino Lora Hospital, in Santiago de Cuba. The director of that medical institution, Rafael Suárez, explained that the study will consist of two phases and will involve 800 volunteers, according to Prensa Latina news agency. In the first phase―which will run until February―the vaccine candidate, one of the two developed by the Havana Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), already approved for human studies, will be administered to 200 volunteers. In a second stage, the drug will be tested in another 600 participants, the source specified. https://twitter.com/Gob_StgoDeCuba/status/1334595233477242886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334595233477242886%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcomienza-ensayo-clinico-con-candidato-vacunal-abdala-en-santiago-de-cuba%2F For the clinical trial, adults of both sexes, healthy or with controlled chronic diseases, residing in the southeastern city, were selected. In Suárez’s opinion, the selection of Santiago de Cuba to test the effectiveness of Abdala constitutes “recognition” for the results of that province in the battle against the COVID-19 epidemic―despite the increase in cases detected in that province in recent weeks―in addition to the experience of its institutions in previous medical studies, in particular those coordinated by the CIGB. Dr. María del Carmen Ricardo will be the...

The Cuban government promulgated a group of regulations related to the international cooperation the island provides and receives, which establishes that it will be free from “economic, political or social conditions that imply interference in internal affairs.” It concerns a Decree-Law and eight resolutions of various ministries, a legal package in which this activity is conceptualized and procedures are defined by which it seeks to make it more efficient and speed up and make the approval processes more flexible, the official site Cubadebate reported. The regulations, published in the Gaceta Oficial No. 85 Ordinaria of this December 1, 2020, will come into force as of March 31 of next year, and with them, “the legal dispersion and existing legal gaps in some cases” are eliminated, according to Magalys Estrada, general director of Economic Collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX), cited by the source. They apply to all national and foreign subjects, and establish the mechanisms and procedures for the island’s international assistance in other countries, the official explained. The basic norm is Decree-Law 16/2020, approved by the Council of State last September, and which states that the international cooperation that Cuba offers and receives is carried...

The future legislation on Animal Welfare, being prepared by the island’s Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG), will reflect “some of the main wishes and concerns of the population regarding this issue,” according to the official media. The public call to contribute to the drawing up of the Decree-Law that will govern the policy on this matter in Cuba got more than 6,116 readings and more than 1,200 comments and opinions, said a note from the MINAG cited by the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. The communique states that the call was open between November 3 and 23, with the aim of “constructing in a participatory manner the postulates of the specific legal framework of animal welfare, by the related actors and the Cuban population, through channels, routes, structures and communication mechanisms with the external and internal public.” The call to legislate had a notable impact on social networks and broad participation, including well-known personalities and artists, sensitized to animal welfare, the source pointed out. According to the MINAG, the Decree-Law drafting team studied each of the criteria of addition, modification, deletion and general comments, which will be taken into account for their incorporation into the legal norm. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/protectores-de-animales-en-cuba-la-voz-de-los-sin-voz/ The note...

Cuba reported 75 new cases of COVID-19 for the second consecutive day, after studying 11,092 samples in the last 24 hours, reported the island’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). At the close of yesterday, 3,959 patients were hospitalized for clinical epidemiological surveillance, of which 767 are suspected of having been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and 623 are active cases of the disease. Of these, 619 have a stable clinical evolution, one is in critical condition and three in serious condition. In addition, this Wednesday there were no deaths from COVID-19 on the island and 56 discharges were given, with which the number of deaths remains at 136 and that of recovered patients rose to 7,770. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1334541657841291268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334541657841291268%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcoronavirus-cuba-reporta-75-nuevos-casos-por-segundo-dia-consecutivo%2F According to the Ministry of Public Health report, Cuba has processed a total of 1,146,603 samples and has confirmed 8,531 infections since the epidemic of the new coronavirus began on the island. Of the patients registered this Wednesday, 48 were contacts of confirmed cases, 26 had a source of infection abroad and only in one of the cases the source of infection was not specified. Of the total of cases, 76% (57) were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis, so the total number of infected...

A Citizen’s Single File will enter into force in Cuba on December 10, according to a resolution issued by the Minister of Justice that establishes the organization, operation and scope of this identification mechanism. According to resolution 484/2020, published in the Gaceta Oficial, “the Citizen’s Single File constitutes the computer platform that allows interoperability between public registries, and of these with the institutions, agencies and entities that provide services and procedures to individuals and legal entities, for access to the identity data of individuals.” It “guarantees legal security, the integrity and protection of information” and seeks “to achieve transparency in the information based on a better computerized management of the Public Registries,” according to the Cuban Ministry of Justice (MINJUS). https://twitter.com/CubaMinjus/status/1333487685038694400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1333487685038694400%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fimplementan-en-cuba-una-ficha-unica-del-ciudadano%2F The File will also serve to “facilitate legal services, procedures, access to information, and contribute to the creation of digital identity in the country,” the MINJUS specified in relation to the regulation, which establishes that public officials and authorities in full exercise of their functions will thus verify the identity of people and collect their personal data from a single source, the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency said. The File is integrated with the selected data on...

The 2020-2021 school year, underway in almost all of Cuba since the beginning of November, will begin in Havana on December 7, confirmed the deputy director general of education of the Cuban capital. José Ángel Ordaz said to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency that Havana province is “ready to assume the beginning of the school year” amid the current epidemiological context due to COVID-19 and explained that in order for Havana to catch up with the rest of the country “it was necessary to make some adjustments, but this does not imply the omission of any of the fundamental objectives of the subjects in each grade.” The official said that “the programming of spaces for review and consolidation, and for the introduction of content, which after a thorough review were concentrated in certain units, was taken into account” and detailed that “pre-school, primary and special education will remain full time in schools, while for junior and senior high and technical professional training, including pedagogy, schedules will be readjusted in order to avoid overcrowding.” He affirmed that the start of the school day was “made more flexible,” with classes beginning at 8:30 a.m., and commented that “in many...

Cuba registered 75 new coronavirus infections at the end of this Monday, 30 of them in Havana, with which the number of patients diagnosed on the island since the beginning of the pandemic is already 8,456, while active cases once again exceeded the 600 barrier (604). In addition, in the last day no deaths were reported from COVID-19 and 56 discharges were given, so the number of fatalities remained at 136, while that of recovered patients was 7,714. At this time, 1,119 patients are hospitalized for clinical epidemiological surveillance, of them 318 are suspects, 2,292 are under surveillance and 604 are confirmed. Of the latter, 600 have a stable clinical evolution, while one patient is in critical condition and three in serious condition. The evacuees are still two, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) report. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1334207452863221761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334207452863221761%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-resgistra-75-nuevos-contagios-de-coronavirus-30-de-ellos-en-la-habana%2F Of the 75 newly infected, 29 are contacts of confirmed cases, 45 with a source of infection abroad, and in one the source of infection could not be determined. A total of 65 are Cubans and 10 are foreigners, including eight Russian tourists detected in Cayo Coco, in the central province of Ciego de Ávila. Meanwhile, 55 of the positive cases registered...

The government of Havana established price caps on a group of agricultural products and “flour derivatives” that are marketed in agricultural markets and private establishments in the Cuban capital. Given the shortage of food and basic need products, as a result of the economic crisis the island is experiencing and which has caused a considerable hike in prices, the Havana authorities decided to expand the list of toped prices of food products to “protect our population,” reported the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana. In October, this source had already published a list of other products with maximum prices set by the government, which included meat and sausages, as well as root vegetables, greens, fruits and grains. The shortage of food in Cuba has worsened with the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, a context in which the government has opted for the opening of stores where you can only pay with cards associated with bank accounts in dollars. To this is added the impact of the U.S. embargo and the inefficiencies and internal obstacles that hinder the necessary productive take-off on the island. https://oncubanews.com/en/opinion/columns/counterbalance/the-food-we-need/ On the other hand, many sellers appeal to higher prices in search of higher yields...

Cuba closes November with the number of new infections due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus soaring to 97 cases; although 45 of them were imported. In addition, there was another deceased, with which the number of fatalities rises to 136. The new victim of the coronavirus on the island is a 55-year-old man, from Guanabacoa. The data on his evolution are explained in the report issued today by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP).  https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1333818020188332038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1333818020188332038%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-reporta-97-nuevos-casos-de-covid-19-y-un-fallecido%2F Regarding the new infections, 96 correspond to Cubans and one to a foreigner: 55 were contacts with confirmed cases, in 45 individuals the source of infection was located abroad and in only one the cause of contagion is not specified. At midnight yesterday, November 30, four people remained in intensive care: one reported as critical and three as serious, including a 53-year-old Russian citizen. Of the total number of new patients, 70 were asymptomatic. By territories, this is the distribution of the patients without differentiating autochthonous and imported cases: Pinar del Río: 14 cases. Artemis: five cases. Havana: 35 cases. Mayabeque: five cases. Matanzas: four cases. Villa Clara: eight cases. Cienfuegos: three cases. Sancti Spíritus: one case. Camagüey: six cases. Las Tunas: one case. Holguín: six...

The Director General for the United States of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), Carlos Fernández de Cossío, intervened this Monday night in the prime-time broadcast of the National Television News (NTV) to reiterate the official position in relation to the San Isidro events and the involvement of the U.S. government. Two days earlier, on November 28, the MINREX had called U.S. Charge d’Affaires Timothy Zúñiga-Brown to let him know that Cuba did not allow “the United States, or any state, to interfere in the internal affairs of the country.” He was also asked to reiterate that same message to the Department of State. “The officials do not act on their own initiative,” Fernández de Cossío told the NTV, “they receive instructions from their government.” “We summoned him to the MINREX,” he said, “because we had the need to remind him that U.S. diplomats must behave and not meddle in internal affairs. The Vienna Convention establishes very clearly that the diplomatic representative…is obliged to respect the laws and regulations of the country…and not to interfere in the internal affairs of a country.” He also said that Zúñiga-Brown had gone three times to San Isidro, a place where the Embassy knew...

The Cuban health authorities diagnosed this Sunday 51 new contagions by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, after processing 11,038 samples. The cases correspond to 48 Cubans and three foreigners. Of the total, 24 were contacts of confirmed cases, in 24 individuals the source of infection was abroad and in three the origin of the disease was not specified. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1333426410522816515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1333426410522816515%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcon-mas-de-11-000-pruebas-en-un-dia-cuba-detecta-51-nuevos-casos-de-covid-19%2F By territories, the autochthonous cases correspond to Pinar del Río (four cases), Havana (four), Mayabeque (two), Matanzas (two), Villa Clara (three), Cienfuegos (five), Sancti Spíritus (three) Ciego de Ávila (one), Camagüey (one) and Santiago de Cuba (two). Those imported are from Artemisa, Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey and Holguín. Of the total of reported patients, 70.5% were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. According to the report by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), there were 45 discharges yesterday, with which 7,631 people have already recovered from the pandemic on the island since the first cases were detected in March. Three patients from Havana, Isla de la Juventud and Santiago de Cuba remained in intensive care: one in critical condition and two in serious condition. There were no deaths this time, and the number of fatalities from the new coronavirus still stands...