83 patients were discharged yesterday. There were no deaths. 23 people remained in intensive care.

In the second part of this series, OnCuba continues its journey through several Cuban provinces, with shared realities and different contexts in the face of COVID-19. What’s it like to live today in Havana and Ciego de Ávila?

Help us keep OnCuba alive Yesterday there were no deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “The light is starting to be seen,” said Dr. Francisco Durán regarding this data, before announcing that, after 5,855 tests carried out, the number of new contagions had dropped to 52; 24 were imported and 28 are local. Five provinces reported autochthonous cases: Havana, Ciego de Ávila, Matanzas, Artemisa and Pinar del Río. “A great dispersion,” said Durán, as the imported cases involve 13 territories, related in today’s report. All are Cuban: 23 had contact with confirmed cases, in five the source of infection is not specified and, as noted, 24 had the source of infection abroad, a group of patients that has now risen to 413 in Cuba since the pandemic began. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1301885064331038721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301885064331038721%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcoronavirus-en-cuba-52-contagios-de-ellos-24-importados%2F 14 men, 38 women and 37 of the total were asymptomatic at the time of their diagnosis. By age group, the most affected continue being those between 22 and 39 years, with 22 cases, and between 40 and 59, with 19. Seven were under 20 and four were over 60. The director of epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) also highlighted the increase in daily tests carried out with the...

According to the vice president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), Guillermo Pavón Pacheco, until September 2, 23 cases of coronavirus had been reported in that body: 19 people who work in the central building of 23 and M, and another four in departments. Pavón said that on August 19 the first positive case was known in the Television Information System, and that this was the origin of one of the two open events in the organization. Until this Wednesday, eleven more cases belonging to the Information System had been reported; five to the second transmission event in Radio Taíno station and three other people (two from the Tele Rebelde work group and one from the Institute’s surveillance team) were contacts of the cases registered in the open events. The vice president also stressed that Radio Taíno was considered a second event and that none of those infected had contact with the people diagnosed in the Information System. This is why, he said, radio stations have been relocated. Radio Rebelde moved to Cadena Habana’s premises, while Radio Reloj to Radio Ciudad. Television programs such as the Mesa Redonda and Al Mediodia were also moved from their headquarters:...

According to a dispatch from the Prensa Latina (PL) news agency, the Jardines del Rey international airport, in Cayo Coco, will receive the first commercial flight that will arrive this Friday in post-COVID-19 Cuba. Upon arrival at the air terminal in the northern keys of Ciego de Ávila, tourists, who come from Montreal, will be examined by medical personnel to detect any respiratory symptoms. They will also be tested in real time PCR and their temperature will be taken. According to the Air Canada Vacations tour operator, tourists will stay at the Memories Caribe, Memories Flamenco and Playa Paraíso hotels, all of the Gaviota hotel group. Memories Flamenco, Cayo Coco. Photo: Loveholidays. The Ministry of Tourism delegate in Ciego de Ávila, Iyolexis Correa, said that the facilities are certified with the condition of More Hygienic and Safe Tourism, granted by the health authorities. Likewise, she stressed that each hotel has a group of hygienic-sanitary and biosafety protocols in order to protect its workers and clients from a possible contagion with the virus. Playa Paraíso, Cayo Coco. Photo: Loveholidays. She added that the centers have the conditions to ensure social distancing, hand disinfection and means to inform tourists about the health...

Executives of the Finlay Vaccine Institute presented this Wednesday the progress of the Cuban COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Soberana 01, during an online meeting with authorities of the Pan American and World Health organizations (PAHO/WHO). The meeting was held at the PAHO/WHO headquarters in Cuba and was attended by experts from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global organization for the development of vaccines, reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency. https://twitter.com/CarlosFidelDOEI/status/1301211777947111425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301211777947111425%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-expone-su-vacuna-contra-la-covid-19-ante-autoridades-sanitarias-internacionales%2F Soberana 01 was tested at the end of July by the project leaders themselves: Vicente Vérez, director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), Yuri Valdés and Dagmar García, all of them principal researchers of the vaccine candidate. On August 24, the first phase of clinical trials began with a group of 20 people between 19 and 59 years old and this week it will be applied to another twenty volunteers between 60 and 80 years old. In the second phase, scheduled for September 11, the sample will be expanded to 676 volunteers, including 40 from the first. “The Soberana 01 vaccine candidate is applied in two doses, the first day that we call zero time and then a second dose is given in 28 days,”...

Cuban Television is broadcasting classes for Artistic Education students who could not start the 2019-2020 academic year in their classrooms because they live in places affected by the pandemic. “We continue committed to the preparation of our teachers and students to keep them active even in times of COVID, Artistic Teaching does not stop,” said a post from the National Center for Art Schools (CNEArt). These teleclasses can be seen by all students in the country, although they are essentially for students in Havana and some municipalities in other provinces suffering the incidence of the new coronavirus to a greater extent. This new cycle of television teaching activities was created by CNEArt and the National Art Schools in collaboration with the Faculty of Audiovisual Media of the University of the Arts (ISA) and the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT). The classes are new with respect to the previous ones and their objective is to systematize the contents of the various artistic specialties. They are broadcast from Monday to Saturday on the Telerebelde channel, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Theoretical and practical subjects will be taught, among them Reflection and vision of creativity in dance; Ballet; Exercise routine...

Help us keep OnCuba alive With the two deaths reported today by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), the number of deaths due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Cuba has reached one hundred. The victims: an 85-year-old man residing in San Cristóbal municipality, Artemisa, and an 87-year-old woman, from Cotorro, Havana. The involution of both patients during their stay in intensive care due to COVID-19 is explained in the report. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1301527220582846465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301527220582846465%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fun-centenar-de-fallecidos-es-ya-el-saldo-del-coronavirus-en-cuba%2F With this figure, the pandemic’s fatality rate for the island stands at 2.37%, while in the region it is 3.48% and in the world, 3.33%, according to Dr. Francisco Durán in his appearance before the press. The new contagions, meanwhile, rose to 88, of which 87 correspond to Cubans and one to a foreigner, a 44-year-old Mexican resident in the Havana municipality of Playa. All infections were autochthonous. Of today’s total, 77 were contacts of confirmed cases and in 11 individuals the source of infection is not specified. 47 men, 41 women and 63 were asymptomatic at the time of their diagnosis. The provinces that registered contagions this time were Havana, with 69 cases; followed by Artemisa, with 14, and Ciego de Ávila, with five. By age group, the...

Help us keep OnCuba alive In its first day under new restrictive measures to stop the advance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Havana continues to report most of the new contagions in Cuba, 46 yesterday, to which are added the three deaths of the day. The victims were a 65-year-old man, described as “homeless,” and two women, 65 and 94, both from La Lisa. The data on the medical evolution of the three during their hospitalization are explained in the report published today by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). The number of deaths as a result of COVID-19 on the island now stands at 98. The new contagions, meanwhile, totaled 61 throughout the country, after processing 5, 546 tests, of which 4,202 are from the capital. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1301161677170380801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301161677170380801%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fla-covid-19-suma-tres-muertes-en-cuba-y-los-nuevos-contagios-ascienden-a-61%2F 60 are Cuban and one is a foreigner, a 42-year-old Colombian resident in Plaza de la Revolución; 51 individuals had contact with confirmed cases and in 10 the source of infection is not specified Women predominate over men in today’s report (37-24) and 34 of the total were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. By age group, the most affected group is between 20 and 60 years old: 22 people are grouped between...

The prestigious Marriott hotel chain announced this Monday the closure of its operations in Cuba, after the U.S. administration of Donald Trump refused to renew its license to operate on the island. “We can confirm that starting tomorrow (Tuesday) Marriott will no longer be operating the Four Points by Sheraton in Havana,” Kerstin Sachl, the company’s Director of Communication for Latin America and the Caribbean, told EFE. Although it has been closed for some time due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Four Points was the only hotel stronghold of the United States in Cuba, and an example of the rapprochement carried out in the previous Barack Obama administration (2009-2017) with the Cuban authorities. https://oncubanews.com/cuba-ee-uu/la-compania-estadounidense-marriott-cesara-sus-negocios-en-cuba/ Last June, Marriott had announced the Trump administration’s decision not to renew its license to operate in Cuba, which gave it until August 31 to end its activities. This decision also meant the suspension of any plan that Marriott might have to open new hotels on the island. The U.S. hotel chain also planned to acquire the Hotel Inglaterra, with 83 rooms and located in the central Paseo del Prado, a few steps from the Capitol and the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater, but this operation was...

Cuba allocated only 5% of its investments to agriculture in 2019, economist Pedro Monreal warned this weekend, citing data from the Statistical Yearbook published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI). “The vulnerabilities of Cuba’s economic structure, aggravated by the recent crisis associated with the pandemic, impose an urgent review of investments,” Monreal wrote on his Twitter profile. https://twitter.com/pmmonreal/status/1299639876145623041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1299639876145623041%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-destino-solo-el-5-de-sus-inversiones-a-la-agricultura-en-2019%2F The doctor in Economic Sciences and a specialist in the UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Program said that Cuba, a country with a significant food deficit, cannot afford to dedicate 5% of the investment to agriculture. He drew attention to the “unbalanced structure” in investments reflected in official statistics: “37.3% are concentrated in ‘business services and real estate activity,’ Monreal said, while pointing out investment reductions in agriculture, public health and science and innovation. The disparity is just as notable in terms of territories; according to ONEI data, Havana accounted for almost 6 out of every 10 pesos invested in the country in 2019. Almost 70% of the total investment in Cuba in the year is just concentrated between the Cuban capital and the province of Artemisa. Agriculture has been classified as a strategic sector for the Cuban government,...

Help us keep OnCuba alive August, the month in which a new outbreak of COVID-19 has forced taking severe measures, especially in Havana, closes for Cuba with another death and 33 new contagions from the pandemic. The 95th victim of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Cuba is an 84-year-old man from Havana, resident in Marianao, whose evolution, according to Dr. Francisco Durán, was torpid since his hospitalization on August 15. Details in this regard are in the report issued today by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1300795015241838593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300795015241838593%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-la-covid-19-suma-una-nueva-victima-y-33-son-los-nuevos-contagios%2F All the cases are Cuban; 27 were contacts of confirmed cases and in six the source of infection was not specified. 18 men, 15 women and, of the total, 28 were asymptomatic. Only Havana and Matanzas reported contagions in the last 24 hours, with a territorial dispersion warned by Dr. Durán, who highlighted that 38 municipalities on the island have reported the new coronavirus in the last 15 days. 12 reported cases in today’s report. By age group, the most affected continue being between 20 and 39 years old, with 13 cases until midnight yesterday; and those from 40 to 60, with 12. Three under 20 were reported, and five people were over...

On March 11, 2020, the first cases of the new coronavirus were reported in Cuba. From that moment on, the pandemic started spreading throughout the island and its provinces. Faced with a problem that had already shown its scope in the world, the Cuban authorities started taking measures at the national level, as part of a strategy favorably assessed by the Pan American and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The closure of the borders, the mandatory use of the mask and the prohibition of interprovincial travel are three central variables in the epidemiological management of the Cuban strategy to deal with the pandemic. Measures like these were complemented by others at a territorial level, aimed at contextualizing the general threat presented by COVID-19 in the specific conditions of the provinces and municipalities. That is, to organize life in its daily rhythm, crossed by two axes. The first are those structural problems of Cuban society such as inequality and scarcity, exacerbated by the pandemic, which raised certain daily difficulties to the category of public health risk, such as lines to purchase basic need products. The second is the particular characteristics of the territories, the evolution of COVID-19 in them and the authorities’...

Experts from the Cuban Ministries of Public Health, Tourism and Transportation determined that ten airports on the island comply with the biosafety protocols established for arriving and departing flights to and from other countries, thus they can restart their international operations. A “rigorous inspection” evaluated whether these facilities have the conditions to guarantee compliance with the measures established for the prevention, confrontation and control of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, Cubadebate reported this Saturday. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuban-borders-to-continue-closed-until-further-notice/ The experts determined that Cuban airport terminals offer guarantees to maintain physical distancing and hygiene of passengers and workers, in addition to checking the temperature of travelers arriving on the island, indicates the source. The group of specialists verified the visibility of health guidelines in the waiting rooms and the workers’ knowledge of the procedures and measures conceived in the biosafety protocols at Cuban borders. During a long period of minimal activity, Cuban air terminals were subjected to renovation and adaptation processes to meet the sanitary standards required for the detection of COVID-19, according to the source. So far, the Cuban government has not reported a definitive date to restore international travel, although the reopening of tourism, in early August, implied the startup of the international...

Help us keep OnCuba alive The SARS-CoV-2 virus produced 59 new contagions yesterday, detected by Cuban health authorities after conducting more than 5,000 tests, and those infected by the new coronavirus on the island already amount to 4,032. All the cases correspond to Cubans, 47 were related to confirmed patients and in 11 individuals the source of infection is not specified. A 39-year-old man, resident in Madruga (Mayabeque), acquired the disease abroad. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1300428758327922691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300428758327922691%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-supera-los-4000-casos-de-covid-19-tras-los-59-nuevos-contagios-informados-hoy%2F 34 men, 25 women and of the total, 35 were asymptomatic at the time of their diagnosis, according to today’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) report. The provinces that registered patients: Havana, Artemisa, Ciego de Ávila, Matanzas; and Mayabeque, with an imported case. By age group, the greatest number of patients are concentrated between 29 and 39 years old, with 25 cases today, and from 40 to 59, with 20. There were five under 20 years old, and nine over 60 . At midnight yesterday, 1,141 people remained hospitalized for clinical-epidemiological surveillance in a day when there were 51 discharges. No new fatalities were reported, so the death toll from the new coronavirus remains at 94 and now the fatality rate stands at 2.33%. 22 people were...

The government of Havana proposed the creation of a card that works as a temporary authorization so that the new movement limitation measures don’t affect people whose identity documents reflect an address other than the place where they currently reside. The most controversial of the new restrictions, established to stop the wave of COVID-19 contagions in the Cuban capital, prohibits people from making purchases in establishments outside their municipality of residence. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/gobierno-de-la-habana-endurece-sanciones-para-frenar-contagios-de-coronavirus/ The authorization document will include the name and surname of the beneficiary, the identity card number and the current municipality of residence, explained the vice president of the Administration Council, Luis Carlos Góngora, during a meeting of the Provincial Defense Council held yesterday. The process to deliver the card will be organized in each municipality, reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency, which does not specify the date when the process will begin. The Havana authorities clarified that agricultural markets, fish shops and stores that sell products in freely convertible currency are not included in the established territorial limitation. To reduce the mobility associated with the purchase of high-demand products in CUC in stores of the CIMEX, Caribe and Caracol chains, these purchases are restricted only to...

Help us keep OnCuba alive After the two deaths caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus reported yesterday, the health authorities did not report deaths this Sunday, a day where the new infections totaled 48, after the making 4,591 tests throughout the country. All are Cuban, according to the report issued by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP); 47 were contacts of confirmed cases and in one individual the source of infection is not specified; 25 are male and 23 female, and of the total, 28 were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1300067849759842304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300067849759842304%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-suma-hoy-48-nuevos-contagios-por-coronavirus%2F The new COVID-19 cases were reported from Havana (39 cases), Artemisa (7), Matanzas (1) and Las Tunas (1). At midnight yesterday, 1,128 people remained hospitalized while active cases had reached 550. Six patients were reported in a critical condition and 14 as seriously ill. Meanwhile, 54 received medical discharge, with which 3,327 patients have recovered. Cuba has processed a total of 392,785 tests in search of the new coronavirus since the pandemic began; 3,973 of them have been positive.

Cuba announced work on a new COVID-19 vaccine candidate, in addition to reporting good results with a new clinical trial that uses rectal ozone therapy in patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2, reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. Vicente Vérez, director of the Finlay Institute, said progress is being made in the second vaccine project; with the same Soberana 01 antigen, but on a different platform. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuban-soberana-01-vaccine/ “We are finishing the formulation this week and filling next week, it’s a different vaccine,” explained Vérez, and assured that the trial is giving “very interesting responses” in animals. At the meeting of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel with Cuban scientists working on projects against the coronavirus, the director of the Finlay Institute affirmed that they will speed up work on the vaccine to try to begin clinical trials in October. The leading specialist recalled that the study of Soberana 01 began on August 24 and should continue next week with another 20 volunteers aged over 60. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuban-vaccine-against-coronavirus-without-adverse-effects-after-48-hours-of-first-trial-in-humans/ For her part, the director of research, development and innovation of the National Center for Scientific Research, Sarahi Mendoza, referred to a study with ozone therapy in patients with COVID-19. She said that the use of...

Faced with the outbreak of COVID-19 Havana is experiencing, the authorities of the Cuban capital announced a new package of measures that seeks to contain the spread of the disease. Among the restrictions, which will come into effect on September 1, is the prohibition of mobility between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., except for exceptional cases and transportation authorized due to its function. Although the measures applied to stop the increase in positive cases of the new coronavirus have had favorable results, the decrease in active cases is very slow, said Raúl Guinovart, dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computation of the University of Havana. He specified that since the beginning of August the country has been experiencing an outbreak, since on July 24 there were only 39 active cases and the situation was favorable. The numbers, however, changed. On August 7, he said, more than 300 cases had already accumulated again and the country’s authorities took swift action to try to stop the exponential growth. One of them was to decide that Havana return to the phase of Limited Autochthonous Transmission. On August 10, there were a total of 496 cases. That same day public transportation in the...

Help us keep OnCuba alive The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported 60 new contagions with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus at the end of this Thursday, bringing the total number of contagions on the island to 3,866 and active cases rose to 550. Of the active cases, 527 are in a stable clinical condition, while critically ill patients increased to 5 and seriously ill patients to 18. The good news was that in the last day there were no deaths from COVID-19, so the number of fatalities from this disease in Cuba remained at 92. In addition, 27 discharges were given, with which the recovered patients already amount to 3,222, according to the MINSAP official report. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1299340931305541635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1299340931305541635%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcoronavirus-cuba-reporta-60-nuevos-contagios-casos-activos-suben-a-550%2F As for the 60 new positive cases, detected thanks to more than 5,000 diagnostic tests, all are Cuban (31 females and 29 males), although 17 were imported cases, of which the Ministry of Public Health did not specify their origin. In addition, 40 are contacts of previously confirmed cases, in three the source of infection could not be specified, and 41 were asymptomatic at the time they had the PCR test to detect the virus. Havana, with 39 new infections, was once again...

A note from the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency says that Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, president of the Provincial Defense Council (CDP) of Havana, insisted that special attention should be paid to control in institutions, mainly in large workplaces, in order to avoid the COVID-19 contagions that complicate the situation in the territory. At yesterday’s working meeting the official said that there are centers with a large number of workers residing in different municipalities of the capital. If there is a positive case, the disease could spread more easily. Photo: AFP. He also referred to an analysis of the behavior of recent institutional events. It reflected that they have had a high impact on the number of positive cases in the province. In yesterday’s report there are eleven cases in Havana. Arroyo Naranjo is the most affected municipality. All patients have proven sources of infection and are contacts of positive cases. Ten were asymptomatic. To date, five events are active in Havana: one in the Habana del Este municipality (Guanabo), one in Plaza de la Revolución (Puentes Grandes), one in Playa (Constructora Militar 1ra. y 70), and two in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo (La Castellana and Mantilla)....

Help us keep OnCuba alive Cuba opened this Thursday with 47 new infections, 32 more than the previous day, according to the data provided today by Dr. Francisco Durán during his daily press conference. Seven provinces diagnosed COVID-19 patients, including regions that had not reported cases for weeks, such as Ciego de Ávila (four cases), Las Tunas (four) and Camagüey (one). The rest of the territories from where the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected were Havana, with 17 cases; Matanzas, with 13; Artemisa, with five and Villa Clara, with one. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1298978118850367494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1298978118850367494%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcentro-y-oriente-de-cuba-vuelven-a-reportar-nuevos-casos-de-covid-19%2F All are Cuban, 40 had contact with confirmed cases, in seven individuals the source of infection is not specified, among them the case of Camagüey; 38 of the 47 were asymptomatic. The ratio between women and men is quite balanced (24 male-23 female) and the age groups most affected are still those from 20 to 39 years, with 23 cases, and those from 40 to 59, with 16. Four cases were reported in the under 19 group, and four also in the over 60. There were 1,024 hospitalized patients and 517 active cases. Yesterday 4,549 tests were carried out in search of the disease, and today, according...

An outbreak of COVID-19 in the San Cristóbal municipality, in Artemisa, set off the alarms of the authorities of that province after having controlled the coronavirus transmission events in Bauta and Baracoa. Five of the new cases confirmed this Monday reside there, to which are added two other patients diagnosed this Sunday with the disease, reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. https://www.facebook.com/Artemisadiario/posts/3906757746018316 “This is a chain generated by the first positive case’s relationship with Havana,” explained the head of the public health subgroup of the Provincial Defense Council, Yanelis Amador. Amador pointed out that there is concern with the appearance of positive cases with no direct link with confirmed cases or with workers of the Mariel Construction and Assembly Company (ECM), in which a local transmission event was opened, which shows that the virus is circulating in the municipality and there is very little perception of risk in the population. She specified that San Cristóbal has a total of 27 confirmed cases, 13 of the last 23 have links with the event of the ECM construction company, which operates in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM). In some cases, the sources of contagion link the municipality with people...

The Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC), a cultural institution located in Havana, received the prestigious 2020 Travellers’ Choice award, conferred by tourists’ opinions on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel platform. “The award has been possible thanks to the opinions of all those who have lived the experience in our beloved FAC. Our congratulations to the public and the team,” the project organizers said on Twitter. https://twitter.com/fabricadeartecu/status/1298552483745337344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1298552483745337344%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Ffabrica-de-arte-cubano-gana-el-premio-travellers-choice%2F Led by renowned Cuban musician X Alfonso, the FAC promotes artistic experimentation, makes visible the work of national creators and fosters the convergence of all art manifestations with a community focus that includes training workshops, visual exhibitions, concerts and theatrical presentations, Prensa Latina news agency recalls. Since its founding in 2014, it has earned several international nominations for the World Greatest Places 2019, World Travel Awards and the Excellence 2017 award, among other awards, for its innovative management and artistic offer. This new recognition comes at a time of global tourism crisis at the international level due to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://oncubanews.com/cultura/fabrica-de-arte-cubano-entre-los-100-mejores-lugares-del-mundo/ Considered one of the most frequented places by a sector of Havana’s youth and by foreigners visiting Cuban capital, in 2019 FAC was included in the list of the 100 best places...

The Cuban vaccine candidate against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which began this Monday its clinical trials in humans, shows no serious adverse effects after two days of vaccination of the first 20 volunteers. The Coordinating Center for the Clinical Trial of the vaccine known as Soberana 01 reported this Wednesday that “48 hours after being vaccinated, the first 20 subjects―whose ages range between 19 and 59 years―are in perfect health.” In an informative note cited by the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency, the coordinators of the test indicated that “the only adverse effect recorded was mild pain on the spot where the injection was given, which is a side effect, common to all vaccines.” They added that “the first safety report will be delivered on Monday, August 31 to the authorities of the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED)” and that “later, the trial will begin with the rest of the expected subjects, belonging to the age group between 60-80 years.” The trials of the vaccine, developed by scientists from the Finlay Institute, were authorized after its registration on August 13 in the CECMED registry, and are being carried out at the National Toxicology...