Cuba on guard to prevent spreading of new coronavirus 

The confirmation of a fifth case of Covid-19 was reported during a meeting, yesterday afternoon, to review the situation, led by the President of the Republic and Prime Minister

Yaima Puig Menesesmarch 17, 2020 08:03:17

Cuba has equipped all ports of entry with advanced technology to monitor individuals arriving and detect any sign of Covid-19 infection. Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus Alvarez
Led by President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, another meeting took place yesterday afternoon to review the Covid-19 situation, where Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal Miranda confirmed a fifth case of the virus in Cuba.

According to the minister, a Cuban patient, 63 years of age, resident in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre, who returned to the island from Spain on March 8, began to exhibit symptoms on the 11th. He sought medical attention on the 12th, and was hospitalized immediately. To date, Portal stated, “The patient has mild symptoms and is in stable condition.”

Regarding cases previously diagnosed, Portal reported that one of the Italian tourists, 61 years of age and with a history of bronchial asthma, began to exhibit complications on March 15, and is currently in critical condition.

The other three patients, he said, are in stable condition at Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine. Individuals who had direct contact with these patients and passengers on the same flight from Italy are under observation and have shown no signs of infection, he stressed.

The minister said that since January 25, 470 individuals have been hospitalized for observation and 21,968 patients are being monitored by their primary care physicians. At the time of the meeting, 373 patients had been admitted for epidemiological surveillance, 145 from abroad and 228 Cubans.

Cuba will accept and assist travelers on British cruise ship MS Braemar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement

Author: MINREX | internet@granma.cu
march 16, 2020 12:03:43

Photo: MINREX
On March 13, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland requested that Cuban authorities allow the Fred Olsen cruise line’s MS Braemar to dock in a Cuban port with a small number of travelers with the new coronavirus (SARS CoV 2/Covid-19), and assist in their repatriation by air.

Given the urgency of the situation and the risk to the lives of the sick passengers, the Cuban government has decided to allow the docking of this vessel and will adopt established sanitary measures to receive all citizens on board, in accordance with protocols established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

In conjunction with British authorities, arrangements have been made, once the travelers arrive, for their safe and immediate return to the United Kingdom on charter flights.

These are times of solidarity, of understanding health as a human right, of strengthening international cooperation to face our common challenges, values that are key to the humanist practices of the Revolution and of our people.

Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Havana, March 16, 2020

Cuban international medical brigades focused on solidarity and caution
All 28,268 members of Cuba’s 61 medical brigades working abroad are free of the coronavirus, reports Dr. Jorge Hidalgo Bustillo, director of the Medical Collaboration Central Unit

Author: Abel Reyes Montero | informacion@granmai.cu
march 17, 2020 08:03:07

Cuba’s Central Unit of Medical Collaboration reports that our medical professionals working around the world remain free of Covid-19.

Photo: Nuria Barbosa
For those who love their family members and their compatriots, the spreading Covid-19 pandemic is cause for alarm, given the risk faced by the more than 28,000 Cuban health workers serving on missions around the world.

But it seems that their solidarity and internationalist vocation has been, thus far, a moral repellent.

According to information provided by Dr. Jorge Hidalgo Bustillo, director of the Central Unit for Medical Collaboration (UCCM), all 28,268 members of Cuba’s medical brigades working in 61countries, around the world, remain free of the virus, to date. Continue reading Cuba’s 61 medical brigades working abroad are free of the coronavirus →

Three tourists visiting Cuba test positive for new coronavirus

The confirmed patients are responding favorably and none is in life threatening condition, at this time
Author: Redacción Digital | internet@granma.cu
march 12, 2020 09:03:23
Our country has been preparing to face the pandemic caused by the appearance of a new coronavirus, which has impacted more than a hundred countries, to date, causing a significant number of cases of illness and deaths.
As a result of the implementation of the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of the disease, and intensive monitoring of respiratory syndromes, suspicious cases have been identified and patients admitted to hospitals. On March 10, 2020, identified with such symptoms were four Italian tourists, staying at a hostel in the city of Trinidad in the province of Sancti Spíritus. They had arrived at Havana’s José Martí International Airport on Monday, March 9, and traveled to Trinidad that same day. They were immediately admitted to Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK).
On March 11, 2020, the IPK National Reference Laboratory reported that three of the four tourists, in isolation since the 10th, tested positive for the new SARS COV-2 Coronavirus.
Persons identified as having had contact with the patients, who remain asymptomatic, are being monitored and required epidemiological control actions are being carried out.
The confirmed patients are responding favorably and none is in life threatening condition, at this time.

Contacts of Italian tourists with Covid-19 are asymptomatic and quarantined

All have been placed under clinical and epidemiological observation to determine their condition if symptoms should appear. If any suspicious symptoms are noted over the next few days, testing of nasopharyngeal swab samples will be conducted and if confirmed as positive for the coronavirus, patients will be transferred to the Villa Clara Military Hospital, as established in the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Covid-19
Author: Escambray Digital | internet@granma.cu
march 12, 2020 10:03:42

Photo: José Alberto Rodríguez
Established epidemiological procedures are being followed for individuals who were in contact with the three Italian tourists in Trinidad confirmed as the first cases of Covid-19 in Cuba.
According to Dr. Manuel Rivero Abella, provincial director of health in Sancti Spíritus, the seven persons in direct contact with the tourists – including their car driver, a tour operator and five in the hostel where they stayed – are currently asymptomatic, but are being transferred to the Doctor Faustino Pérez Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital, the center designated for the isolation of suspected Covid-19 cases in the province.
“They have all been placed under clinical and epidemiological surveillance to see if symptoms appear. In the event that, over the next few days, they exhibit any clinical symptoms, they will be swabbed and if confirmed positive, will be transferred to the Villa Clara Military Hospital, as established in the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Covid-19,” Dr. Rivero stated.
According to the doctor, if the contacts remain without clinical symptoms, they will return to their homes, where they will be closely monitored by epidemiologists and the community health care team.
Of the four Italian tourists who arrived in Cuba March 9, and in Trinidad the next day, three were confirmed positive for Covid-19 and to date, according to the Ministry of Public Health, their condition is not life-threatening.
A provincial strategy for treating suspicious cases of the virus was designed over the last few weeks, and has been implemented, including the establishment of specialized departments in all health institutions and the preparation of 42 beds in hospital isolation wards.