All care will be always too little to reduce the spread of COVID 19, Cuban health minister warns

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 18 (ACN) All care will always be little to minimize contagions as much as possible, warned Cuban minister of public health, Jose Angel Portal Miranda, who called on the population not to be trusting in the face of the current increase of cases of COVID-19 in the country.

In an article published today on the website of the ministry of public health (MINSAP by its Spanish acronym), Portal Miranda warned about the prevalence in Cuba of the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is increasing the transmission of the disease.

An example of this is that in the first 15 days of January, 32,720 new infections were confirmed, he said, a figure much higher than that reported in November (9,994) and December (3,845).

We are aware that at this stage many people with mild symptoms do not go to health institutions or are not studied, which indicates that the current figures are higher, the minister added.

In this regard, Portal Miranda emphasized the high transmissibility of this variant, and warned that the increase in cases will continue in the coming days.

The expert reviewed the situation in Cuba during the most recent week, a period in which 21,783 new infections have been confirmed, the fourth week in a row in which the increase of cases in the country has remained.

The minister called to continue complying with the existing action protocols to avoid the growth of the number of confirmed cases, despite the fact that 87.4% of the Cuban population has already completed the anti-COVID-19 vaccination scheme.

Not even the vaccination levels we have reached -which unquestionably put us in better conditions to face this new moment of the epidemic- can make anyone think that we are completely safe, he remarked.

We urge greater individual responsibility to help reduce infection rates in the country, as the risk of the disease continues to be high, Portal Miranda concluded.