Cuba registered around 1,600 pediatric-age patients confirmed with COVID-19 in January of this year, which represents hundreds of infections of children and adolescents more than those reported in all of 2020.
The island has reported a total of a 2,882 positive cases for SARS-Cov-2 in that age range since the beginning of the epidemic last March, according to the head of the National Pediatric Group of the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Lissette del Rosario López, cited by the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency.
Cuba con récord de 431 nuevos casos de coronavirus y sobrepasa los 15.000 desde marzo
During the first month of 2021, the highest number of infected infants was also reported, 49%, and of them two out of five are three months old or less, the specialist explained.
According to the source, until the end of this Sunday, 586 minors remained hospitalized, and 82.8% of all children and adolescents diagnosed during the pandemic had already recovered from the contagious disease.
López said that no pediatric patient has died in Cuba due to “the robust action protocol, with personalized medical care according to the needs of each infant.” She affirmed that Cuban health personnel carry out “meticulous work” to prevent secondary effects, through strict vigilance for any warning signs and early application of treatment.
“Children have to grow up in a safe environment, the new normal implies looking for mechanisms, no matter how difficult, to protect children,” explained the doctor.
Cuba is going through the worst outbreak of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with several reports of daily records of infections from December to date, and more than two deaths every 24 hours in the month just ended.
In January alone, 15,536 positive cases for the coronavirus and 70 deaths from the disease were diagnosed, while February began with a negative mark of 1,044 new infections in one day and two more deaths.
