The CIGB-258, a peptide designed to reduce inflammatory processes, and the monoclonal antibody Itolizumab (Anti-CD6) have shown great effectiveness for the survival of critical and severe COVID-19 patients in Cuba, announced Friday Francisco Duran, national director of epidemiology at the ministry of public health.

Hyperimmune plasma therapy is one of Cuba's efforts to confront COVID-19, Francisco Duran, national director of epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP by its Spanish acronym), said this Thursday.

The National Seismological Service reported the occurrence of a perceptible earthquake yesterday afternoon in Santiago de Cuba province, the seventh with that category this year in the Cuban archipelago.

The Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM by its Spanish acronym) is working to obtain an antagonist of interleukin-6, a product that can be used to inhibit the so-called "cytokine storm", an uncontrolled reaction of the immune system that aggravates the response of patients with VOC-19.

Cuba participated Thursday in a videoconference offered by the province of Liaoning (southern China) to countries in Latin America and Europe to share their experiences in the confrontation with COVID-19. 

The Cuban Center for Immunoassay (CIE by its Spanish acronym) achieved in record time the assembly of an ELISA type diagnostic system, based on SUMA technology, to detect antibodies generated by the new coronavirus.

In the coming days, Cuba will begin carrying out larger-scale population studies to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, Francisco Duran, national director of epidemiology at the ministry of public health, announced at a press conference Thursday.

One hundred thousand real-time PCR molecular tests, the most effective method for diagnosing COVID-19, were delivered Tuesday to the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK) by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and its global partner, the World Health Organization (WHO). 

More than 80 countries have shown interest in acquiring Recombinant Human Interferon Alpha 2b, demonstrating trust in the therapy's success in confronting the pandemic, Granma newspaper reported Wednesday.