Cuba on the Alert after Slight Increase of COVID-19 Cases

Havana, July 12 (ACN) COVID-19 transmission in Cuba increase by 83.8 percent up to July 9 after the average of cases per day grew to 41.9 up from 22.8 in June, which triggered the alerts of local authorities.

Even when the figures keep low if compared to the world records and bearing in mind the Cuban experience particularly in the 2021 summer, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel alerted health authorities about the need to take action in order to reinforce risk perception of a disease which is still among us. “We need to be ahead of predictions,” he said.

The western provinces of Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth municipality have witnessed a slight increase of positive cases, particularly the capital city with 115 cases over the past week.

During a daily briefing on the pandemic, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero called on provincial governors to reinforce all measures and protocols and recommended to insist that the people should voluntarily use facemasks, which offer effective protection in the event of an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, health minister Jose Angel Portal had reported that up to July 9 there were 207 active cases in Cuba, 66 more cases than last week. However he noted that in the past 8 weeks no deaths from the disease were reported here.

In Cuba, 97.7 percent of the eligible population to be vaccinated have completed three doses of locally developed vaccines and 84 percent have got a booster, which makes the difference from other countries; however authorities insist in not lowering the guard against the coronavirus.