Cuban health authorities reiterate need to continue increasing self-responsibility before COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 23 (ACN) In addition to the measures that can be taken to control COVID-19, people's self-responsibility must continue increasing, said today in Havana Dr. Francisco Duran, national director of Epidemiology of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

When analyzing the epidemiological scenario in the country, the doctor pointed out that Havana continues to have the most complex and high-risk situation, which is why this territory was selected to start the phase III clinical trial of Soberana 02, one of the five Cuban anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The role played by the capital in the autochthonous transmission is very important, warned Dr. Duran, and reported that at the close of March 22, the provinces of Granma, with 102, and Santiago de Cuba, with 73, were also included with the highest number of positive cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Once again, attention was drawn to the 109 children under 20 years of age who are infected, including 102 pediatric cases, of which eight are infants; six of these infants were totally asymptomatic and were studied because they were contacts of positive cases, he explained.

At the same time, the expert emphasized that even if vaccinated against COVID-19, protective measures should be followed, such as the use of masks, physical distancing and disinfection of hands and surfaces, among others.

Regarding health personnel, the epidemiologist affirmed that although these protective measures are necessary for the entire population, they are more important in the case of health workers because they are more directly exposed.

In Cuba, when the complete vaccination scheme is already in place, which includes two doses, in some cases three, with a period of time between one and the other, protection is still not totally safe enough to be able to ignore these measures, the specialist warned.
He reiterated that according to international studies, until 70 to 80 % of vaccination coverage of the population is not achieved, the risks will be present.

The fact of being immunized avoids complications and the evolution towards seriousness, but does not prevent you from being infected and transmitting the disease, Dr. Duran warned.

Therefore, it does not provide security and that is why both health personnel and the population in general have to continue using all the measures to protect themselves, he insisted.

People who have been infected with COVID-19 are at risk of acquiring it again because 20% of them do not leave immunity afterwards, and these are the reasons to keep the mask and other established measures, the epidemiology director concluded.