Cuban minister advocates prevention and responsibility against COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 13 (ACN) Cuban Minister of Public Health (MINSAP) José Ángel Portal Miranda urged to reinforce prevention and individual responsibility to tackle COVID-19 in light of the slight increase in the infection rate in the last four weeks, including 298 new cases in the past seven days.

Portal Miranda laid most of the blame on the circulation in Cuba of the BA.5, a new fast-spreading subvariant of Omicron that is causing fresh surges of COVID, although he also warned of the presence of other viruses likely to spike respiratory illnesses among people and recalled that the drop in the death toll and the number of serious cases in Cuba is not a reason to neglect compliance with the health protocols.

“The vaccines have increased our immunity, but they alone are not enough to stop the virus from spreading, so measures such as frequent hand hygiene, wearing masks indoors and social distancing whenever possible remain as effective today as they were at the beginning of 2020,” the minister pointed out.