COVID-19 in Cuba: Over Six Thousand Cases in Only One Week

Over six thousand people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Cuba in the course of the last week, which is the highest number of infected people since the epidemic began to be confronted in the country almost a year ago.

Only three provinces, Guantanamo, Matanzas and Villa Clara, show a decrease in the incidence of cases; in the rest of the territories the confirmation of new patients is increasing.

This was informed on Monday by the Minister of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda, at the regular meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the new coronavirus, which was headed from the Palace of the Revolution by the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.

During the meeting, which linked via videoconference the main authorities of 11 provinces, the Minister also detailed that in the 21 days elapsed in February, 1,395 patients exceeded those reported in the whole month of January.

The highest levels of transmission, he said, are in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, where 73.6% of those diagnosed this month are concentrated.

Unfortunately, 66 of the 84 deaths as a result of SARS-CoV-2 in February have also occurred in these three provinces, which brings to 300 the number of people who have died in the largest of the Antilles during the pandemic, he said.

Although the numbers reported on Monday represent a slight decrease with respect to the previous day, the situation in the country, Portal Miranda acknowledged, continues to be complex.