Díaz-Canel: We will open 2022 with hope and joy

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 13 (ACN) "We are going to open 2022 with hope; we are going to open 2022 with joy, because we can recover, based on everything we have achieved and everything we have planned", say Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel in his latest meeting with top authorities

There are enough political motivations, enough experiences of a hard year, that allow us to celebrate a new anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution with a concept of victory, he said. And the victory is, fundamentally, in the fact of having faced and controlled the pandemic, in which a great merit corresponds to the vaccines.

In spite of the measures to tighten the blockade, the Revolution continues, he emphasized. It is true that we have a complex situation of shortages but imagine how we would be if we had not successfully confronted the enemy's plans. "Today those who are upset, those who are frustrated, those who have no hope are them," he stressed.

And with that spirit of victory we are going to celebrate the anniversary of the Revolution and the new year, both: as a country, as a nation, as a municipality, as a territory and as a family. "This is a family celebration, there is a big family which is all of Cuba."

As part of the multiple activities that have been designed in the country on the occasion of the celebrations, the President of the Republic insisted on those that should be carried out to support the most vulnerable. He also stressed the need to continue working in the neighborhoods and to prioritize in the territories the actions aimed at increasing supplies and lowering prices, both tasks in which many of us can do if we work together.

He also called attention to the activities aimed at young people and children. The latter, he said, have been subjected to tremendous stress, isolated, subjected only to the rigors of family life, and now they can have a moment of relaxation, of joy, with a group of activities designed for them.
Our young people, he pointed out, also saw their possibilities of enjoyment limited and they deserve to have them back. And above all, they deserve recognition for the role they have played and the way in which they joined the people to face COVID-19: in the red zone, helping the vulnerable, in internationalist missions, and in the whole battle in defense of the Revolution.

They deserve recognition -he emphasized- for everything they have shown as confidence for the future.

"We are going to the 63rd anniversary of a Revolution that, at 63 years old, is a young Revolution and will remain young."

WE CONTROLLED THE PANDEMIC, BUT THE VIRUS HAS NOT DISAPPEARED

The behavior of the epidemic in Cuba evidences -for several weeks now-, a trend towards control that demands greater responsibility from everyone, in order to make sustainable the containment that has been achieved of the virus.

Commenting on the most significant figures of the day, the Minister of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda, highlighted the sustained decrease observed in the incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants in all provinces in the last 15 days, a period in which 1,625 cases were reported in the country.

The decreasing behavior is also shown in other aspects: this Saturday 334 people were admitted for being infected with the virus, 50 less than the previous day; and 14 patients were in serious or critical condition, a week ago the figure was 23.

While exchanging with the authorities of each of the country's territories, President Díaz-Canel particularly acknowledged the control of the epidemic that has been achieved in Mayabeque, where for eight consecutive days no new infections with COVID-19 have been reported.

On the contrary, this Saturday it was observed in the Isle of Youth that, after several months with a control of the virus, its epidemiological indicators have begun to deteriorate and on the day nine cases were reported. "For a municipality, with your population, at the moment in which the country is, that is a lot," said the head of state.


"In the last seven days, there have been cases in all of them, what has happened? From the Isle of Youth, it was learned that the contagions have begun to be detected after the screening of travelers and the control of two active outbreaks where violations of the established protocols were verified, which generated 50 cases.

In view of the admission of these patients at home, President Díaz-Canel insisted on the importance of effectively complying with this measure, because otherwise the number of sick people will multiply. "The basic working groups of primary care have to be alert," he emphasized.

We have controlled the pandemic, but the virus is there," he stressed, "now we have to continue applying and implementing the measures rigorously, because otherwise we will ruin all the vaccination efforts that have been made in Cuba.