Cuba guarantees safe return of COVID-19-free travelers

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 18 (ACN) Unlike other Caribbean destinations, Cuba guarantees the return of tourists from Canada and England with negative results to the PCR test, as part of the protocols before the COVID-19, said Ivis Fernández Peña, delegate of the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) in Matanzas.

International tour operators recognize the success of this operation according to the demands of their governments, which is carried out thanks to the gearing between medical services and tourism, which entails a great effort of the provincial laboratory of molecular biology due to the number of samples to be analyzed, she added.

Fernandez Peña assured that 1,528 vacationers remain in the territory, of which 1,346 are foreigners, and that the biosecurity measures established in accordance with the current phase of limited native transmission are being complied with, including a reduction in hotel personnel without affecting the quality of the services.

According to the delegate of the Mintur, the daily investigation of the personnel of the sector is maintained to detect symptoms indicative of the coronavirus SARS CoV-2, while the hygiene measures are extreme, as well as the disinfection of surfaces and the use of the nasobuco (mask).
Ailuj Casanova Barreto, provincial director of Health, said that a team of epidemiologists and hygiene technicians are working in several facilities of the spa such as the hotels Meliá Internacional and Sol Palmeras, in order to raise safety standards to the pandemic.

Casanova Barreto pointed out that Nasalferon, an immunoprotective product derived from Cuban interferon successfully used to protect health personnel, has already started to be applied in the International Hotel of Varadero and will be extended to other facilities soon.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso and Mario Sabines Lorenzo, president and vice-president of the Provincial Defense Council (CDP) of Matanzas, respectively, held this day a meeting with workers of the services and medical personnel of the tourist facilities of this pole, located about 120 kilometers east of Havana.

Sabines Lorenzo emphasized that the country is living the worst moment of the pandemic, he highlighted the importance of applying with rigor the sanitary measures to protect the clients as well as the employees of the tourist sector and their relatives, and he demanded to act with rigor before those who violate the norms.