Tegucigalpa, Honduras.- After a brigade of Cuban health collaborators arrived in Honduras to help fighting the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the Ministry of Health recalled that the island’s solidarity in this field has been present since 1998.

This is not the first time Cuba extends its solidarity hand to Honduras. During the emergency after the passing of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a brigade of hundreds of Cuban doctors took health services across the nation, recalls the Ministry’s press release on Sunday.

More than 30 doctors and nurses, members of the 21st edition of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics, landed this Sunday in northern San Pedro Sula, capital of Cortes department, epicenter of the pandemic in Honduras.

Cuban doctors will work together with Honduran physicians to fight the coronavirus pandemic, says the note that collected statements by Deputy Health Minister Roberto Cosenza.

The medical brigade from Havana is made up of 20 doctors, among them specialists in urology, internal medicine, family medicine and epidemiology, in addition to three graduates in the latter specialty, and a dozen nurses with training in intensive care, the minister said.

Since the first case of the novel coronavirus was detected on March 11, this country has recorded about 476 infections, with 46 deaths, a mortality rate of more than 9%, the highest in the hemisphere.