The COVID-19 yesterday added 48 new infections in Cuba and three deaths, according to the report by the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) on Wednesday morning. The total number of patients now is 814 and the number of deceased rose to 24 since the pandemic got to the island. The report, as usual presented by Dr. Francisco Durán, director of epidemiology of MINSAP, asserts that of the 48 new confirmed cases, 47 correspond to Cubans, and one to a foreigner (United States). Of this group, 38 were contacts of confirmed or suspected cases, while the source of infection of 10 is being investigated. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1250439173787373568 Women predominate (26, 54.1%) over men (22, 45.8%) and it is worth highlighting again that 41.6% (20) of the positive cases were asymptomatic, while the most affected age groups were: 40 to 60 years old with 52% (25), and those under 40 with 29% (14). Eighty-one percent of new infections are concentrated in these two age groups. The residence by province and municipality of the cases confirmed today is as follows: Pinar del Río: 1 (from Pinar del Río municipality). Artemisa: 1 (from Bauta municipality). Havana: 33 (from Plaza de la Revolución municipality,...

This weekend the expansion of the online stores of the state corporation Cimex was news in Cuba, with the aim of “making purchases viable and avoiding crowds in commercial establishments” at a time when the island is seeking to stop the transmission of COVID-19. This service, present in Havana since last December and enabled in other provinces at the beginning of the current year, will grow in the coming days in the Cuban capital with the entry into operation in this modality of seven large shopping centers, including Mercado Four Caminos, Almacenes Ultra, Dragones Chinos and El Pedegral, which join Carlos III, which already had a virtual store and which, as part of the current plan of measures, closes its doors for purchases in person, with the exception of the Western Union office and the store in freely convertible currency. In addition, it was announced that only “identified basic-need products would be sold, in the approved quantities” and that home delivery, which usually takes around a week or more―which has generated complaints from customers throughout the country―, would be enhanced “by incorporating the largest number of vehicles available,” while as of this Monday the Correos de Cuba postal service would...

The Chinese government will send ambulances to Cuba to safely transport and treat patients infected with the new coronavirus. They will get to the island in the coming weeks. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a telephone conversation with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez, reiterated his country’s position to support Cuba in the fight against the pandemic, Prensa Latina news agency reported. Rodríguez wrote in his account on the Twitter social network that during the conversation with his Chinese counterpart they agreed to “increase bilateral cooperation and in third countries to face the pandemic.” https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1250050351618801664 For his part, the head of Chinese diplomacy said that the island can cope with the current health situation, and called the pandemic a “great test” for the response capacity of countries, according to the agency. He also highlighted the work of his government, which gave priority to the health of citizens and has contributed to the global fight to eradicate COVID-19. China has already donated to Cuba a batch of medical supplies that includes 2,000 masks, 10,000 surgical masks, 2,000 disposable protective suits, 500 infrared thermometers, 2,000 protective glasses and the same number of pairs of surgical gloves and of isolation shoes. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/donaciones-de-china-llegan-a-hospitales-cubanos/ Wang...

The U.S. sanctions that prevent Cuba from fighting effectively against the new coronavirus are inhumane and immoral, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “Unilateral sanctions are illegitimate in themselves, and sanctions that reduce the ability to counter a pandemic in the current situation, and which were adopted without passing through the UN Security Council, are absolutely immoral and inhumane,” said Lavrov. He recalled that the United States does not allow Cubans to buy medical equipment, using its position in the market for these goods and the role of the dollar in banking operations. “The United States, to my great regret, launched a campaign to discredit Cuban doctors who work in dozens of countries around the world, providing solutions to the most difficult health problems; this behavior is not worthy of a great country,” stressed the foreign minister. He added that “now, under the conditions of a pandemic, Cubans, showing their best national qualities, work in almost 60 countries, including Europe, particularly Italy, solving very important problems.” The day before, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla announced in a tweet that he had spoken by telephone with his Russian counterpart about forms of cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1249821495783718912...

The Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported this Tuesday that Cuba had, until midnight on Monday the 13th, 766 confirmed cases, after adding 40 new COVID-19 positives. The number of deaths remains at 21 as a result of the disease, and this is thanks, in some way, to the monitoring of the system created to prevent it. According to this information, so far the country has made 18,864 tests. Also, the cases detected in asymptomatic persons represent an example of the management of the disease on the island. Yesterday, 63.1% of the new positive cases had been detected without symptoms; today, 20%. However, the number of hospitalizations continues to grow: at the close of this information, 2,501 patients were in this situation. Another 7,167 were under surveillance in their homes through the primary health care system. https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1250076586285707264 In the particular case of the 40 confirmed, all were Cuban. Of these, 22 are contact of confirmed cases, one was in contact with a traveler, and the source of infection is investigated for 17. Of this total, 21 are female (52.5%) and 19 are male (47.5%), and the most affected age groups are: 40 to 60 years (15) and those under 40...

The president of BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, highlighted in the Mesa Redonda television program that in the fight against the coronavirus, his institution has a plan that covers different aspects, one of which is to guarantee the medicines designed for the protocols. He ensured their availability for patients who could be diagnosed, even in the worst case scenario. He said that BioCubaFarma has also joined the production of soaps, disinfectants, hydroalcoholic solutions and protection means. He added that the antiviral action of interferon has been shown to be effective in treating the disease, along with other products developed by the biopharmaceutical industry. He said that many countries had asked Cuba for support in the supply of medicines. To date, 62 nations have requested interferon. He insisted that asymptomatic patients constitute the fundamental cause of the spread of the epidemic; hence the importance of mass screening to identify suspects and isolate them. It is an international and local challenge, he said. This April 12, more than 2,000 tests were made in Cuba to diagnose the disease. For his part, the director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, Dr. Vicente Vérez, reported that even though the search for a vaccine will take time, there...

The third week of April begins for Cuba with 57 new cases of infection by COVID-19. Three deaths are added to the mortality records of the disease, bringing the total number of affected to 21 fatal cases and 726 infections, according to this Monday’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) daily briefing. Of those confirmed, 56 were Cuban citizens and a foreigner (Bolivia). Of these, one has a source of infection outside the island (Spain) and 49 were in contact with confirmed cases. The source of infection was not specified in seven of them. According to the note, “Of the 57 diagnosed cases, 35 are female (61.4%) and 22 are male (38.5%).” https://twitter.com/MINSAPCuba/status/1249719331400953858 The age groups most affected in this group are: under 40 (17) and between 40 and 60 (14), which represents 29.8% and 24.5%, respectively. Of the positive cases, 63.1% (36) were asymptomatic. The residence by province and municipality is as follows: Havana: 15 (from the municipalities of Centro Habana and Diez de Octubre, 3 each; Plaza de la Revolución and Cerro, 2 each; Habana del Este, Marianao, La Lisa, Arroyo Naranjo and Boyeros, 1 each) Matanzas: 1 (from Matanzas municipality) Villa Clara: 8 (from Manicaragua 4, Camajuaní, Santo...

The state corporation CIMEX S.A announced a series of measures to increase online shopping to avoid crowds in commercial establishments in Havana and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The main actions include the setting up of seven large shopping centers as virtual stores in the next 10 days: Mercado Cuatro Caminos (Old Havana), Almacenes Ultra (Centro Habana), Dragones Chinos (Centro Habana), El Renacer (Calabazar), La Típica (Boyeros), Rápido Cotorro and Pedegral (La Lisa). The new measures include the reorganization of workers as support, attending to the closure of operations in the Carlos III shopping center, with the exception of the services of the Western Union and the store in freely convertible currency that works there. The minimum purchase value to access the service will also be reduced to 1 Cuban convertible peso (CUC) or 25 pesos in national currency (MN), as well as a 10% discount to the rates approved to date, which can be found at the Transportation and Delivery Times menu, available on the Tienda Virtual home page. As of Monday, April 13, the Correos de Cuba postal services will participate in the home delivery, with a week of testing to adjust the conditions and offer the...

Cuba began applying the drug Biomodulina T to vulnerable population groups as part of preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19. The product is a Cuban biological immunomodulator produced at the National Center for Biopreparations (BioCen), with proven results in increasing the body’s defenses, in addition to providing T lymphocytes, necessary to combat the disease, which until the closing of this Saturday had already infected 669 people and killed 18 on the island. Mary Carmen Reyes, head of the BioCen Clinical Trials Group, explained to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency that this medicine can be given to older adults, the most vulnerable population group, as well as health personnel at risk of contagion of the disease, suspicious contacts of COVID-19 and immunosuppressed persons. The elderly are the population group at highest risk in the face of COVID-19. Photo: EFE This product is added to PrevengHo-Vir, which is already being distributed as a prophylactic measure on the island, a “highly safe drug, like all homeopathic preparations, which increase the body’s defenses against a certain disease,” as explained to the press by Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of epidemiology of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). In the case...

Cuba sent this Sunday a second brigade of health personnel to Italy to fight the coronavirus. This brigade comprises 38 doctors and nurses who will work in the Piedmont region, strongly affected by the pandemic. The group of 20 doctors and 18 nurses from the Henry Reeve brigade, which during the last decade and a half has assisted in various disasters and international health crises, was bid farewell with a ceremony near the José Martí airport in Havana. “We have the full conviction that we are going to heal a lot of people and that we are going to return with our duty accomplished,” Dr. Julio Guerra, head of the mission, told EFE news agency after the event. It has four doctors with experience in intensive care, two epidemiologists, a pulmonologist and several specialists in comprehensive general medicine, who will attend to patients at different stages of the disease. Almost all the members of the group have experience in international missions, and 13 of them have already taken part in the efforts to combat Ebola in African countries, which “says a lot about the commitment and experience” of the professionals, according to Guerra. https://twitter.com/CubaMINREX/status/1249462699219652616 This is the twentieth brigade that...

The Cuban-American teacher Carlos Lazo, a veteran of the Iraq war, has addressed President Donald Trump directly to ask him to “extend a hand of solidarity” to the people of Cuba and lift the sanctions against the island at this time of crisis in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lazo, a resident of Seattle, Washington state, cites in his letter the endorsement of a petition on this issue by more than 12,000 signatures already obtained from the platform change.org. His main argument for asking the President of the United States to lift sanctions against Cuba are the effects that these imply for the Cuban people directly. “The embargo of the United States against Cuba is not a weapon with millimeter accuracy, it is not an intelligent and surgical bomb that hits the target of a government that needs to be shoot down in the island. The one affected by this set of sanctions is the Cuban people.” The embargo/blockade is codified as law and its revision or lifting would depend on the United States Congress, not on the executive branch. But the Trump administration could indeed modify additional actions within its isolation policy against Cuba, which has practically intensified...

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,...