HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 6 (ACN) Dr. Francisco Duran Garcia, Cuban national director of epidemiology, said today in his weekly television presentation that no case of omicron, variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has been diagnosed in Cuba.
According to the expert, a positive case of the pathogen reported recently in the municipality of Placetas, Villa Clara(central region), and coming from South Africa, did not carry the new variant, considered the fifth of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Duran Garcia stressed the importance of vaccination to be protected against the disease, and noted that Cuban science is investigating the characteristics of omicron for the development of a vaccine variant.
In the country, 83 % of the population ( 9,286,956 people) has already completed the immunization scheme with national vaccines against COVID-19, and in addition, 435,041 people have booster doses.
The national director of epidemiology expressed that this vaccination process has been crucial in the reduction of the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country during the last months.
To illustrate the situation, the specialist informed that from November 28 to December 4, 870 diagnoses of the pathogen were made in Cuba, a considerable reduction compared to the 26,936 made eight weeks ago.
Of those confirmed in recent days, 843 were autochthonous and 27 were imported from Spain (seven), the United States (six), Russia (five), Canada (three), Algeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Panama, Nigeria and the Bahamas (one) respectively.
Regarding the pediatric cases, he pointed out that 142 patients were reported positive for coronavirus during the week, 62 less than the previous week.
The Ministry of Public Health also informed that there were 65 deaths due to complications associated with the disease at the end of November.
As of today, there are 8,309 deaths in Cuba due to this cause, for a lethality rate of 0.86 %, compared to 1.98 % in the world and 2.41 % in the Americas.
The provinces with the highest positivity of the pathogen are Camagüey, Holguin and Sancti Spiritus, in that order, the expert concluded.
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