Cuba undergoes Pre-Epidemic Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic

Cuba is in the pre-epidemic stage in fighting Covid-19, nonetheless the government decided to take further measures to stop the spread of the disease.

On March 20th, when President Miguel Diaz-Canel appeared in the ‘Round Table’ TV program together with the cabinet ministers, he announced measures, which ‘are from other stages and will be expedited to work with better efficiency and anticipate events that may be more complex’; Diaz-Canel also explained that work in Cuba is being conducted in stages.

The first, currently in force, is the pre-epidemic one, in which confirmed cases of travelers from affected countries are reported, as well as local cases caused by links or contacts with those travelers.

One of the measures of this stage is the border regulation that comes into force this March 24th, and by which only residents will enter the country.

Cubans and foreign residents will be subjected to a 14-day quarantine in order to prevent possible sources of contagion.

The second stage would be limiting local transmission, confirming cases in which it has not been possible to establish direct links with travelers from affected areas, and is almost always limited to small conglomerates, a location in the country, an institution or center in particular, Diaz-Canel specified.

A third phase would be the epidemic, the most complex, in which infection without links with travelers is detected and confirmed, with an increase in cases in different locations of the national territory, and peaks in the pandemic curve.

‘We began phase one, with the preparation of the entire confrontation system, and the investigation to detect the disease began immediately,’ said the president, who considered that the way in which the cases have been detected indicates that the system has worked.