HAVANA, Cuba.- Since last March 11 in Cuba, 2,005 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed. Just 80 days after those first three patients detected, 161 patients with the new coronavirus are hospitalized in the island; 1,760 have their lives saved and 82 people are mourned.
This Friday — and after a profound process of knowledge about the disease and adjusting more than once the protocols of care in the country — 98.1% of those confirmed who were admitted to Cuban health institutions maintained a stable clinical evolution. Only three remained in a serious condition and death was spooked for the fifth day in a row.
These encouraging numbers and trends were followed at the meeting of the temporary working group that every day the President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz leads at the Palace of the Revolution.
Public Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda reported that the relationship between the new cases and medical discharges regained its favorable status, which this May 29 was 22 and 26, respectively.
Although the incidence of the epidemic in the country is falling, active research, an essential pillar of the confrontation with the disease in Cuba, is not neglected. The number of interviewed remains at about 3,704,300 people a day; more than 1,402,900 are older adults, the most vulnerable population.
On the transmission events in the national territory, Dr. Portal Miranda explained that out of a total of 44, 37 have been closed. The seven who remain open are located in Havana, with three; Villa Clara, with two; as well as Mayabeque and Ciego de Avila, with one each.
About Centro Habana event, the Public Health Minister said it has generated three focuses: in La Epoca Department Store, the AICA Laboratory and the National Transport Company of the Ministry of Interior Trade, all related. The cases this chain is causing are constantly tracked and its contacts are isolated, as part of the usual control actions in this type of event.
About the population study developed in the country to identify possible cases of COVID-19 in places where the disease has not been detected, Dr. Portal Miranda reported it is almost at the end; all samples were taken and more than 85% of them are processed. So far, of 4,000 people studied in the so-called silence zones, only 4 have been positive.
At the meeting, authorities in Havana, Matanzas and Pinar del Rio rendered an account to the country’s leadership on the epidemiological situation in their territories. On the capital, Governor Reinaldo Garcia Zapata pointed out that since the beginning of the epidemic 989 cases have been detected, of which 100 remain hospitalized. The occupancy rate of hospitals intended for COVID-19 care is 27% and that of their intensive therapies is 2%, which continues to indicate that there is no pressure on the province’s health system.
From Matanzas, and through Governor Mario Sabines Lorenzo, it was known that in the territory, out of a total of 194 cases, only 32 remain positive. In recent days, outside of the transmission that took place at Comandante Faustino Pérez Provincial Hospital, no sick person has been confirmed elsewhere in the province. This institution— where 61 cases were detected, 28 of them already receive medical discharges— is operating normally.
In the meantime, 12 days are counted in Pinar del Rio without positive samples from COVID-19. Of the total of 52 cases treated there, a single person was hospitalized on Friday. Governor Ruben Ramos Moreno assured that, even with the substantial decrease in cases in the province, strict compliance with all measures is maintained and “conditions are created to, at the time indicated, gradually move on to the next phase.”
Thus, 80 days after the start of this battle with a pandemic that has killed more than 355,350 people in the world, Cuba remains relentlessly following its commitment to life. This Friday’s 22 cases are talking about a match that doesn’t have its final outcome yet. If there’s one thing that’s decisive to scare off today, it’s trust.
By: Leticia Martinez Hernández