Cuba reached 669 persons infected with the new coronavirus, after the report of 49 new cases at the close of this Saturday, all of Cuban nationality and 20 of them in Havana. In addition, the island's Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported two new deceased, bringing the number to 18, while 15 people were discharged, reaching 92 recovered. Of the 49 new confirmed cases, one has a source of infection abroad, 35 were contacts of confirmed cases, one was the contact of a traveler from abroad, while the source of infection of 12 is being investigated, according to the MINSAP report . https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1249358398665220096 The report, closing at midnight this Saturday, ensures that 44.8% (22) of the new infections were asymptomatic, while 23 (46.9%) are women and (53.0%) men. The most affected age groups are: 40 to 59 years old, and 60 and over with 15 each, for 30.6% respectively, followed by the group of 20 to 40 years with 11 cases (22.4%) and those under 20 years old with 8 cases (16.3%). As for the provinces, in addition to the 20 cases in Havana―several of them with no established source of contagion―, cases were also registered in Villa Clara (12),...

Cuba denied this Friday a statement by the United States that last year it had sold medicines to the island, and once again rejected the embargo it faces while suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. “The blockade has a great impact on the daily life of the population,” said Dr. Lázaro Silva, vice president of Medicuba, the state agency that imports health supplies, during an interview with The Associated Press. “There is a group of resources that we acquire and that if bought in the United States would favor us because it is a much closer market.” In previous years, some 60 medical supply firms were contacted, Silva said, but only two answered, including Bayer, which was the only one with which an agreement was reached in 2019. However, it could not be carried out either, since the company alleged that its Treasury Department permit had expired. Another example that the authorities cited was that of the U.S. company Vyaire Medical Inc, which suspended commercial activity with the Cuban Medicuba importing company due to restrictions imposed by the U.S. government. “Unfortunately, the corporate directive we have today is to suspend all commercial relations with Medicuba; the only way that we can...

Eleven Cuban rafters were quarantined in the Bahamas as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic after being detained on a key in the Atlantic archipelago by security forces earlier in the week. Officers from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and the U.S. Coast Guard joined in the operation to detain the group of Cubans at the beginning of the week, the Bahamian authorities reported this Saturday. The RBDF was notified of the vessel the immigrants were traveling in by officials of Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), according to some local media. The Cubans were detained in Anguila Keys, near Sal Bank Key, to the north of Cuba. According to the Bahamas migration authorities, after the arrest of the Cubans, they were separated from the RBDF crew and later examined by Navy officers to determine if they had been infected with COVID-19. The rafters were also examined by a medical team from the Bahamas Ministry of Health at Coral Harbor Base in Nassau, the capital of the Atlantic archipelago. The Cuban migrants were later handed over to officials of the Bahamas Immigration Department, but will be quarantined until they are admitted to the Bahamian Detention Center. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/u-s-arrests-cuban-rafters-in-florida-keys/ Cuba reached...

Cuba registered 56 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of patients on the island due to the new coronavirus to 620, according to the daily report offered by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). The death toll from the disease reached 16, after the death of a 91-year-old woman. Meanwhile, five patients are still in critical condition and seven in serious condition due to the disease. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1248990646154788865 Also, 26 patients were discharged yesterday, raising the number of cured patients to 77 after receiving the medical treatment designed on the island to fight the new coronavirus. At the close of this Friday, 2,415 patients were admitted to hospitals for clinical-epidemiological surveillance. Meanwhile, another 7,128 people remain under primary healthcare surveillance in their homes. According to the MINSAP report, of the new confirmed cases 55 are Cuban and a foreigner, of Bolivian nationality. The danger of asymptomatic patients Dr. Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology of MINSAP, specified in the press conference that 31 (55.3%) of those newly infected had remained asymptomatic until the time that the real-time PCR tests were performed. About these patients, Durán explained that they were detected “by the search...

Dr. Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, director of Science and Innovation of BioCubaFarma, spoke at the Mesa Redonda television program this Friday about the role of the biopharmaceutical industry in the field of science and innovation against the coronavirus. He said that the laboratories of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) were working on a vaccine to induce specific protective immunity. “This is a future project that will allow, in a long-term control of the disease, if there is a re-emergence, having a specific vaccine.” He said that there is also a vaccine candidate produced by the Carlos J. Finlay Institute based on components of the Cuban vaccine against meningitis, which activates the innate immune system and gives some capacity to react against the virus. He assured that today there are 41 vaccine projects around the world, but that none has shown effective use, and only five have started the first studies in patients. “Cuban scientists are in that same race,” he said. He also spoke about the development of technologies that have allowed access to a set of products for different pathologies, some registered and others under investigation. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/cientificos-cubanos-trabajan-en-una-vacuna-contra-el-coronavirus/ Of those projects, he said, nine are in clinical studies...

The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education (MES) postponed the higher education entrance exams corresponding to this school year “until the health situation (caused by the pandemic) of coronavirus allows it.” The tests were originally planned for early May. In a note released this Thursday on its official website, the MES explains that the decision was made taking into account compliance with the phase plan approved by the National Working Group, which dictates the measures to face the pandemic on the island. https://twitter.com/CubaMES/status/1248270830263513088 The Cuban government suspended the school year as of March 25 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The closure was scheduled for a period of three weeks, in addition to the following week, which corresponds to the school break. This was reported by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero in the Mesa Redonda television program, dedicated to explaining the measures taken by the Cuban authorities to confront the pandemic, with the participation of officials from various ministries in the country. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuba-suspends-classes-for-a-month-due-to-coronavirus/ During his address, Marrero cited concerns associated with overcrowding and hygiene in schools on the island. “Many agree that being at school is safer than being on the street, but there are concerns about overcrowded or hygienic conditions in...

Already 564 coronavirus positive cases of contagion have been reported in Cuba, Dr. Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), confirmed this Friday morning. The specialist, whose presence is familiar and expected by Cubans since the pandemic started being discussed, added that the deaths did not increase, keeping the number of fatalities at 15. The information includes a cut made at midnight on Thursday, April 9, at which time 1,867 people continued hospitalized. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1248627981523619842 The 49 confirmed cases correspond to Cubans; 32 of them were contacts of positive cases; 16 were related to travelers from abroad; while the source of infection of one is being investigated. A very important fact: 26 of these people were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. The residence by province and municipality of the cases added today is as follows: Pinar del Río: 1 (from Consolación del Sur municipality) Artemis: 1 (from San Cristóbal municipality) Mayabeque: 2 (from Melena del Sur municipality) Havana: 12 (2 from Playa municipality, 2 from Centro Habana, 2 from Regla; Diez de Octubre, La Lisa, Cotorro, Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, Arroyo Naranjo, 1 each). Matanzas: 1 (from Matanzas municipality) Villa Clara: 7 (4 from...

As a measure aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, public transportation will be suspended throughout Cuba as of this Saturday, Transportation Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila said in this Thursday’s Mesa Redonda television program. The move underscores the need to avoid overcrowding and large crowds of people that violate social distance, an essential step for success. The minister said that despite constant recommendations to avoid them, in recent days an increase in movement in urban and inter-municipal transport had been verified. “Far from decreasing, it has grown, and this is a significant risk at this stage of contagion,” he said. As of April 11, it was then decided to stop the urban public transportation service. This includes buses, vans, cars, pedicabs, railroads, and other variants of passenger transportation, both state and private, as well as inter-municipal and rural services. As of this Friday there will be, he said, a “noticeable reduction in all services” of public transportation. Only the one intended for workers in prioritized, productive, service and other duly authorized activities will be maintained. They will limit their capacity to 50%, so that a reasonable distance between passengers is guaranteed. For each double seat, there can only be...

A brigade of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Epidemics was handed over the banner this Thursday at the Central Medical Cooperation Unit (UCCM), a few hours before its departure for the People’s Republic of Angola. There they will support the work of other Cuban collaborators and local doctors in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuban-doctors-and-the-coronavirus-pandemic/ This is the 17th brigade, the first of its kind to reach the African continent. It is made up of more than 200 collaborators, especially specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine and graduates in nursing and health technicians. The brigade comprises 136 women and 78 men, 188 doctors, 24 nursing graduates and 2 technicians. Fifty-six percent are between 50 and 59 years old. All the country’s provinces and the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality are represented. Of them, 89.5% have more than 10 years of work experience, 170 have participated in previous missions and 22 were part of other brigades of the Henry Reeve contingent.

Porter@, an application for mobile devices (app) whose purpose is to “control a line” in stores that sell regulated products to guarantee “that a person buys only once, during a certain time” was launched over the weekend by the University of Computer Sciences (UCI). Its developers suggest that “in times of COVID-19, this application is used for the contact analysis of a confirmed person,” according to the record left by a person from the places where he/she makes his/her purchases, Cubadebate reported this Wednesday. The application, available for free downloads in the Apklis platform, depends that each customer in a line presents their ID card, whose number is registered and stored in a local database on the phone. If a person repeats in the line, the app will notify the previous purchase. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/sociedad-cuba/tradiciones/colas/ However, according to the publication, Porter@, although promising because it avoids the hoarding of some products in high demand, raises several questions in the legal field. The current Constitution of the Republic, proclaimed barely a year ago, established the rights of protection of image and personal data of citizens. However, specialists in constitutional law in Cuba have noted the legal loopholes that persist to make that right...

Cuba sets another record in one day, this time with three deaths, to raise to number of dead to 15 from the new coronavirus that keeps the world awake. The news was confirmed by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) at a press conference, while it was published on all the ministry’s networks. Now, the number of infected amount to 515 positive cases with confirmation until midnight yesterday, April 8, of 58 new contagions. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1248273192738795524 The three people who died were the following: A 49-year-old man from Taguasco, Sancti Spíritus province, with a history of high blood pressure. He had arrived in the country from the Dominican Republic and was admitted to the Manuel Piti Fajardo Hospital, in Villa Clara. He had “pneumonic lesion, severe respiratory distress, respiratory, renal and myocardial dysfunction, hypotension and a distended abdomen compatible with paralytic ileus, mechanical ventilation and hemodynamically unstable.” The case of the 80-year-old woman from Havana residing in the municipality of Diez de Octubre was as follows: she was the contact of a case from Mexico and had been admitted to the Salvador Allende Hospital for an acute respiratory condition diagnosed with pneumonia, “with acute respiratory failure and inflammatory lung disease. She...

The authorities in Havana will begin to apply isolation measures in new communities in the city due to the increase in COVID-19 positive cases, according to local press reports this Wednesday. In addition, the arrival of health personnel from other provinces to deal with the disease was announced. In the Cuban capital, social isolation had already been reinforced in El Carmelo People’s Council, in the populous neighborhood of El Vedado, since the previous week, without becoming a quarantine; and the same strategy is being applied as of this Wednesday afternoon in the Buenos Aires People’s Council, in the municipality of Cerro. In addition, the adoption of restrictive measures in other areas of the Cuban capital such as the Lotería People’s Council, in El Cotorro, and the Lawton neighborhood, in Diez de Octubre, are also being analyzed, according to the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana. The measures proposed for these territories include increased screenings, especially among vulnerable groups, no circulation of and sale by street vendors, the use of intra and extra domiciliary facemasks, performing rapid tests on the population and travelers, the publication said. https://oncubanews.com/opinion/columnas/de-otro-costal/un-golpe-de-viento-en-bolondron-puede-apagar-una-vela-en-copenhague/ Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, president of the Provincial Defense Council, called on the municipal authorities...

This Tuesday Cuba registered a record number of new infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, with 61, thus the number of confirmed cases on the island reached 457. In addition, the island's Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) announced a new death, the twelfth in the country. Cuban Minister of Health Dr. José Ángel Portal reported this Wednesday at a press conference that 1,187 diagnostic tests (PCR) were performed this Tuesday, which confirmed 60 Cubans and a foreigner, from China, as positive, who had been in contact with a previous confirmed case in the Mariel Special Development Zone. Of these, five have a source of infection abroad (Panama and Mexico 2 each, Nicaragua 1), 42 were contacts of confirmed cases, 13 maintained contact with travelers from abroad, and the source of infection of one is still being investigated, according to the daily report issued by MINSAP. By province, Havana had the highest number of cases, with 22 (a total of 136, the only one in the country with over a hundred), while patients were also reported in Artemisa (6), Matanzas (3), Villa Clara (9), Sancti Spíritus (10), Camagüey (2), Holguín (6), and Santiago de Cuba (3). https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1247918597558734848 Portal affirmed that this “increase...

In a meeting this Tuesday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the plans to deal with it, the Cuban authorities announced that from now on the island would go to the stage of limited local transmission. Minister of Public Health Dr. José Ángel Portal Miranda said that this phase is declared “when cases are confirmed in which links have not been established with travelers from affected areas and are limited to small conglomerates in localities or institutions in the country.” Until now, the active cases of local transmission are located in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río; Florencia, Ciego de Ávila; Florida, Camagüey; and Gibara, Holguín, with a total of 33 cases. President Miguel Díaz-Canel pointed out that many of the measures characteristic of this stage had already been advanced in the pre-epidemic. What is distinctive about this new phase, however, is that all places where there is local transmission are going to be quarantined. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/aislan-a-una-zona-del-vedado/ The president reiterated “the will of our government to continue working, together with all our institutions, mass organizations and, of course, together with our people, to continue reducing the risk of massive transmission of this disease.” “We want to ratify once again,” he said,...

Cuba announced the sending of ten health specialists to Mexico as part of the support to other nations to face the new coronavirus at a time when regional health authorities warn that Latin America is still a few weeks away from seeing the already famous “peaks” of infections Cuban Director of Epidemiology Dr. Francisco Durán said that “ten health collaborators” traveled to Mexico, but did not specify their destination or their specialties. The announcement came a day after Mexican President Manuel López Obrador said they were holding tals talks. Over 600 doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians have left Cuba in the past two weeks to 15 countries, including Andorra, Italy, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Before, thousands more were already in some 60 countries with which Cuba signed agreements to provide poor sectors with heathcare. Already in the midst of the coronavirus crisis in various parts of the world, in late March the United States tried to dissuade governments from requesting the support of doctors from Cuba. Washington maintains sanctions against Havana, pressing for a change in its political system. https://oncubanews.com/mundo/america-latina/coronavirus-mexico-valora-pedir-a-cuba-especialistas-en-terapia-intensiva/ Cuban doctors gained fame during the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, and that...

The coronavirus statistics in Cuba are as follows: 46 cases of recent infections and 2 deaths. This is what was reported this Tuesday morning by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) authorities at the press conference, which has already become regular since shortly before measures to contain the spread of the pandemic on the island intensified. There are already a total of 11 dead and 396 infected cases, but the number of hospitalizations has again gone up, indicating a careful observation of the issue that can get out of control with the slightest carelessness. Total hospitalizations are 1,752 patients; another 15,762 people are under primary healthcare surveillance in their homes. The 46 confirmed cases were Cuban. Of these, one has a source of infection abroad (United States); 31 were contacts of confirmed cases; 13 of contacts of travelers from abroad; and the source of infection of one of them is being investigated. The residence by provinces and municipalities of the new cases is as follows: Pinar del Río: 1 (from the Viñales municipality); Artemisa: 1 (from the Bauta municipality); Mayabeque: 1 (from the Melena del Sur municipality); Havana: 6 (3 from the Cerro municipality; Playa, Cotorro and Old Havana, with...

Havana authorities appeared this Monday on the Mesa Redonda television program to announce on the measures taken against the pandemic in the territory. Reinaldo García Zapata, vice president of the Provincial Defense Council and Governor of Havana, reiterated the need for social isolation. He said that three facilities have been opened for people suspected of contagion with COVID-19. Facilities have been allocated for: suspects, low-risk suspects and contacts. He also referred to facilities for Cuban travelers arriving from abroad. He said that this Tuesday the 14 days will be over and those who return to their homes or go to health institutions will be defined. He reported that so far 148 points have been set up for the sale of chlorine and measures have been taken in chain stores and the commerce sector for the sale of food and hygiene products. The goal is to avoid crowds. Similarly, the sale of agricultural products in the markets has been regulated. He also said that in Havana it is planned to isolate some people’s councils from the municipalities of Diez de Octubre and El Cerro, which will be reported later. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuba-with-350-cases-of-contagion-and-a-new-death-from-coronavirus/ Dr. Carlos Alberto Martínez Blanco, provincial director of health in Havana,...

During a special broadcast on Ciego de Ávila’s television channel, Dr. Osvaldo Ivañez, director of health in the province, reported the appearance of 13 new coronavirus positive cases. These are in addition to the four previously identified in the part of the Ministry of Public Health’s report in the press conference on April 6 at 11:00 a.m. Today there are 44 virus positive patients in that territory. The information describes these new cases as follows: Case 32: 44-year-old Cuban citizen from the municipality of Venezuela, contact of a confirmed case from Venezuela, hospitalized on April 1, 2020. Four contacts have been identified. Case 33: 27-year-old Cuban citizen from the Florencia municipality, contact of a confirmed case from Florencia, hospitalized on April 3, 2020. Three contacts have been identified. Case 34: 5-year-old Cuban citizen from the Florencia municipality, contact of a confirmed case from Florencia, admission date April 3, 2020. Two contacts have been identified. Case 35: 41-year-old Cuban citizen from the Florencia municipality, contact of a confirmed case from Florencia, hospitalized on April 3, 2020. Four contacts have been identified. Case 36: 48-year-old Cuban citizen from the Florencia municipality, contact of a confirmed case from Florencia, hospitalized on April 3,...

With the data offered this Monday morning by the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), Cuba reaches the 350 positive cases of the COVID-19 disease. The deceased increased to 9, after a reported victim, and after yesterday’s report of four people in serious condition. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1247181165779472385 The numbers disclosed include the statistical closure made at midnight on Sunday, April 5, when 1,718 patients were hospitalized for clinical-epidemiological surveillance. Another 18,443 people are under primary health care surveillance in their homes. According to the information, 764 cases were studied, of which 30 were positive. The new confirmed cases correspond to 29 Cubans and a foreigner from Tanzania. The new deceased is a 38-year-old Cuban, resident in the municipality of Old Havana, who had had contact with a traveler from Switzerland. “He presented symptoms of the disease, was admitted to the Naval Hospital and finally to the Félix Andrade Hospital where he died yesterday. He developed complications with a respiratory distress and with different manifestations of the disease; he even started suffering from diabetes mellitus,” said Dr. Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology at MINSAP. Durán also commented that, initially, this patient had tested negative with the real-time PCR test. “Later, at...

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) confirmed 32 new infections of the new coronavirus, bringing the number of confirmed cases on the island to 320. In addition, the number of deceased increased to eight after the death of two patients, the number of hospitalized patients decreased to 1,887 and the number of discharges is 15. According to this Sunday’s report―which includes the data from the closing on Saturday―eight patients are in critical condition, and one in serious condition is added, which are now four. The remaining 283 hospitalized patients have a stable clinical evolution. According to Dr. Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology of the MINSAP, for the second day more than a thousand (1,201) diagnostic tests (PCR) were carried out on the island, 649 of them at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, 225 in the Havana laboratory, 139 in Villa Clara and 188 in Santiago de Cuba. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1246835432723267590 The MINSAP report said that a total of 1,887 patients have been hospitalized, 291 of them suspects, while another 16,306 people are under primary health care surveillance at home. For the second consecutive day, there were no arrivals of travelers from abroad (only one air operation from Italy was...

Yoruba priests from Cuba agreed that the coronavirus pandemic affecting the world today was caused by ideological rivalry between the topmost political personalities worldwide. The priests came to this conclusion after studying the Ifá predictions in the Letter of the Year, released last January, for “a better understanding of events.” “Ifá is pointing to this rivalry as the main cause of the origin of the pandemic that, in reality, is being established and spreading, fundamentally, at all the entrances and borders of a city,” says a post by the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba on Facebook, based on the reinterpretation of texts from its religious system. “We cannot classify who is inclined to Good nor who is inclined to Evil since, Good and Evil, are two very relative concepts. In this contemporary world, everyone embraces the Ideology that they consider Good, while others consider it Evil,” explained the priests, for whom the spread of the pathogen may be due to conflicts between people with opposite positions. “In this case, harmful medicinal preparations are used as an offensive weapon, causing certain ailments, very similar to those caused by the coronavirus,” they indicate. https://www.facebook.com/asyorubacuba/posts/1292610244273482 The priests, grouped in the Yoruba Cultural Association...

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) confirmed 19 new infections of the new coronavirus, bringing the number of confirmed cases on the island to 288. In addition, the number of deaths remained at six and there were no new discharges, which are still 15 so far. On the other hand, this Saturday’s report–with the data from the closing on Friday–registers an increase in patients in critical condition, which rose to eight, and in serious condition, which are now three. The remaining 255 hospitalized patients presented a stable clinical evolution. According to Dr. Francisco Durán, director of Epidemiology of the MINSAP, for the first time more than a thousand diagnostic tests (PCR) were carried out on the island, which confirmed 18 Cubans and one foreigner, from Peru, as positive. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1246462329681780736 Of the Cubans diagnosed, the report indicates that two have a source of infection abroad (Italy and Nicaragua), while seven were contacts of confirmed cases and nine were related to travelers from abroad. The age of the new cases varies from a six-year-old boy to a 101-year-old woman, who is one of those reported as serious, while eleven of the patients are women and eight are men. By provinces Havana...

Twenty-four days after the first three cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed, at the close of yesterday, Thursday, April 2, 269 patients were registered in Cuba, after confirming 36 new cases, said Minister of Public Health Dr. José Ángel Portal Miranda in the Mesa Redonda television program this Friday. He specified that the incidence rate of the disease is 2.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, and that in confirmed cases the male sex prevails―140, 52% of the total—; that 63.2% of the patients are between 25 and 59 years old; and that 19.8% are over 60. Six percent are children under 12. There are nine cases of people over 80. To date 22 patients in serious condition have been reported: 8% of confirmed cases. In other countries, he said, this indicator stands at around 20%. In Cuba, only 5% of cases have developed critical conditions. He also disclosed that 50% of seriously ill patients are over 60 years old, and that 36.4% are between 40 and 60 years old. Eighty percent are men. In all cases, he said, their serious condition has been linked to pre-existing chronic diseases. The latest report records that there are six critically ill and two patients in serious...

Daily monitoring applied by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) yielded 36 new cases of coronavirus in Cuba at the close of this Thursday, April 2, and there were no new deaths. With the new data, the list of infected by SARS-Cov-2 on the Island amounts to 269 and deaths remain at six. Of the 36 new confirmed cases, 35 Cubans and a foreigner of Chinese nationality were diagnosed. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1246093390749601792 Regarding Cubans, five had a source of infection abroad: Spain (3), Haiti and the United States (1 each), 26 were contacts of confirmed cases and four were in contact with travelers from abroad. Their places of residence by provinces and municipalities is as follows: Pinar del Río: 5 (3 from Pinar del Río municipality and 2 from Consolación del Sur, Camilo Cienfuegos community) Artemisa: 4 (2 from Artemisa municipality, 1 from San Antonio de los Baños and 1 from Mariel) Havana: 7 (3 from Marianao municipality, 1 from Playa, 1 from Diez de Octubre, 1 from Plaza de la Revolución, 1 from Cotorro) Matanzas: 1 (Jovellanos Municipality) Villa Clara: 2 (1 from Cifuentes municipality, and 1 from Santa Clara) Sancti Spíritus: 2 (2 from Taguasco municipality) Ciego de Ávila: 6...

According to the newspaper Trabajadores, two Sancti Spíritus patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus were discharged. The are Nancy Benítez Vázquez, a 58-year-old woman from Trinidad who had contact with a COVID-19 positive American patient; and Omar Herrera Pérez, 27, who arrived in La Sierpe on March 6 from the United States. A street in Trinidad. Photo: Minube. The provincial director of health, Dr. Manuel Rivero Abella, told the media in that province that both patients have been in their homes since this Wednesday, but that “they will remain isolated and restricted from leaving their homes for another 14 days, under surveillance by the family doctor and nurse in their community.” Both were referred to the Faustino Pérez rehabilitation hospital in Sancti Spíritus, set up as an isolation center. After confirming the diagnosis, they were transferred to the Santa Clara Military Hospital, where nine people from Sancti Spíritus are currently hospitalized, two of them in critical condition.