Facing COVID-19: consolidating results and avoiding over-confidence

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 25 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez made a call to consolidate results and not feel too confident in view of the slight drop in the number of people infected with COVID-19 reported on Wednesday—137 less than the previous day—-at a meeting with the provisional working group for prevention and control.

Since Havana is still the hardest-hit province, Governor Reinaldo García Zapata presented 22 new measures intended to make case-finding and contact-tracing efforts more efficient, strengthen sanitary controls, and slow down transmission. The capital city cannot possibly isolate all contacts after new virus outbreaks in recent months, unlike the rest of the provinces, “where there has to be room for every single contact,” he pointed out.

Minister of Public Health José Angel Portal Miranda gave an overview of the current epidemiological situation in Cuba and presented figures of hospital admissions and dismissals.

Aspects such as the need to properly comply with hygienic measures all around; the timely identification of suspects and their contacts; actions to restrict mobility; the quality of screening processes at community level; and the measures to prevent institutional transmission were also on the table for an online discussion with provincial authorities across Cuba.

Prevailing at this stage in the fight against the pandemic in Cuba is the appeal to remain aware of the risk perception in order to reduce interpersonal transmission and stop the spread of COVID-19.