Diaz-Canel led follow-up meeting in the battle against COVID-19. Photo/Estudios Revolucion.
HAVANA, Cuba.- Under the precept defended by the Cuban Government that nothing can hinder the effort to continue saving lives in the battle against COVID-19, the President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz continued this Friday to the usual meeting with the temporary working group to confront the new coronavirus, where it was confirmed that, despite the complex scenario and the measures taken, the country has maintained its vitality.
After 73 days of being diagnosed with the first three patients positive to the disease in the national territory, the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Jose Angel Portal Miranda, announced that in this day 2 426 people are admitted for care and surveillance, which corroborates these figures´ tendency to decline in the island.
Of these, Dr. Portal said, 444 patients remain in hospitals; 225 in centers for suspects of lower risk, and 1,519 in isolation institutions, for contact surveillance.
Of the 1,916 patients diagnosed so far with the new coronavirus only 202 remain active, representing 10.5% of the total confirmed cases in Cuba. 98% of them have a stable clinical evolution.
About research, Dr. Portal said that 3,859,049 people were visited during the last day, of whom 1,400,042 were for older adults. Considering the usefulness of this working tool, the Minister insisted on constant monitoring that it must continue in communities, especially so that quality and objectivity prevail in the actions carried out.
Updating on the behavior of the 44 local transmission events opened in the country, Dr. Portal reported that 13 in 7 provinces and Island of Youth Special Municipality are still active. The event at Acosta People’s Council, at Diez de Octubre municipality in Havana, was closed this Friday, where no new positive cases were reported to COVID-19 for 28 days.
Also during this day, three institutions of the Cuban Judicial System, the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Justice, reported on their work in the midst of this complex situation and how activities have been adapted in them to ensure vitality in different priorities.
Attorney General Yamila Pena Ojeda commented that the current context has not prevented strict control of criminal proceedings from being maintained, ensuring compliance with criminal policy in the country. In the middle of the present scenario, more than 1,500 criminal proceedings have been initiated involving crimes such as reception, illicit economic activity or spread of epidemic, and more than 1,400 trials have reached courts.
At the moment, Pena Ojeda specified, several cases are followed up from structures, including those reported through the media, as part of the transparency and timely information offered about them to the population, to which more details will be provided once trials are concluded.
On the other hand, the President of the Supreme People’s Court, Ruben Remigio Ferro, pointed out that although during these months there has been a decrease in judicial activity, the one associated with criminal acts occurred in the midst of the confrontation with COVID-19 has been maintained. “In each of the processes,” Remigio said, “we have acted accordingly with the severity and rigor required by the current circumstances the country is experiencing.”
Meanwhile, Oscar Silvera Martinez, Minister of Justice, explained that services provided by Property Registry, notaries and others were suspended. Meanwhile, activities such as those related to foreign investment approval process, services of the Central Sanctioned Register, with the aim of not stopping judicial proceedings; and the operation of marital records to ensure the recording of births and deaths were maintained.
Silvera Martinez further stated that during these months it has been constant the Ministry of Justice´s performance to monitor the legislative activity of the country. Particular attention has also been paid to the legal support of all the measures taken by the country in the context of the confrontation with the new coronavirus. “In the midst of this epidemic,” the Minister of Justice said, “we can say this has been a very fruitful stage of work”.
Intense has also been the activity deployed from the National Institute of Water Resources during these months to ensure the supply of water in the national territory, and especially in the health institutions and isolation centers.
Antonio Rodriguez Rodriguez, President of that Institute explained that these actions are carried out at the same time that a set of measures implemented to deal with drought, which affects 77% of the national territory in a moderate to extreme way.
At the end of February–April quarter, Rodriguez said, 96% of the country had weather drought involvement, with an increase in areas in the severe-extreme category, compared to January–March 2020 quarter.
Although there has been an increase in rainfall during May, this does not imply that drought ended in the Cuban territory, as there are still affectations in several watersheds, Rodriguez said.
The President of the National Institute of Water Resources pointed out that at the moment, 541,799 people are supplied with water by using tanker trucks, while 134,657 inhabitants are affected with water supply cycles longer than ten days.
Until the end of April, the official said, resources and work actions have focused mainly on works allowing to give value of use to facilities and reduce the effects of drought, with marked incidence in the western area, especially Havana.
As in the meetings of the last days, this time the governors of the provinces of Havana and Matanzas updated on the epidemiological situation in those territories, taking into account that they report the greatest number of positive cases to COVID-19 during the last days.
Taken from the Presidency of the Republic site