COVID-19 has killed 150 people in Cuba so far this May

HAVANA, Cuba, May 17 (ACN) The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of COVID-19, has killed 150 people in Cuba so far in May, up to the end of May 15, bringing the total number of deaths since the introduction of the pandemic in March last year to 804 deaths due to complications of the disease.

In May, 16,832 people have been diagnosed as infected with this coronavirus and the average number of confirmed cases each day is 1,122, the highest of the entire pandemic and, unfortunately, 10 deaths per day, informed today in this capital city the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap).

Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of epidemiology, said that this has been influenced by the increase in the number of people admitted to intensive care, which in the last day totaled 120, including 42 critical and 78 serious cases, which shows that many times the outcome is fatal.

In addition to this, there is the circulation in the country of a group of strains that also have a slightly more aggressive, virulent behavior and are capable of causing serious, critical conditions and therefore complications that can lead to the death of people, emphasized the Minsap expert.

We still have to continue complying with biosecurity measures, notwithstanding the exhaustion, the reliability of a vaccine which, although it protects, still has to reach a much higher percentage of coverage in the population," he insisted.

At the end of May 15, Cuba confirmed 1,233 new cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths, of which four were in Havana, a territory which has been at the epicenter of the pandemic for several weeks and has not been able to control it, mainly due to the indiscipline of the population and, in many cases, to the lack of awareness of the danger.

At present, 27,657 patients are hospitalized, of which 6,934 are confirmed positive, the highest number, Durán said.