Cuba is experiencing the worst outbreak of the epidemic and announces drastic measures against the spread of covid-19

The scenario is complicated day by day in Cuba during the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic, even more so in Havana, where most of the cases are concentrated and the authorities consider the situation "alarming".

With Cuban vaccines still in the final phase of clinical trials and the overwhelming increase in pressure on hospitals and health centers, at this time with 25,000 admitted, among sick and suspected patients or under surveillance for covid-19, the first days of April They have exceeded the worst forecasts: for a week, the average is almost 1,100 daily cases, 31% more than at the end of March.

• The two Cuban vaccines against covid-19 enter the final stretch of clinical trials

• Cuba tests the efficacy of its vaccines hampered by the rise in positive cases of covid-19

In the Cuban capital, the incidence rate in the last 15 days is 343 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than triple that of the rest of the island.

“Alarming start of April, with a daily average of more than a thousand cases, the majority in Havana.

In the next few hours there will be more drastic closure measures, as in the face of the first outbreak of covid-19, ”Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced in a Twitter message.

Díaz-Canel assured that the "low perception of risk is the greatest danger," and warned that months will pass before Cuban vaccines are ready for mass use and "Cuba is completely immunized."

According to the Cuban president, already 90,000 volunteers participating in the third phase of clinical trials have received the second dose of Soberana 02 and Abdala (the most advanced Cuban candidates), and tens of thousands more are participating in "controlled intervention studies." Although, he said, now "it is not enough to put one's shoulder" but it is about "putting responsible action."

"For the good of our families and the country: distancing, hygiene and masks," he recommended.

Cuba accumulates 81,640 infections and 440 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic, figures that remain low compared to other countries in the area such as the Dominican Republic (more than 250,000 infections and 3,300 deaths), Panama (356,000 infected and 6,100 deaths) or Mexico ( 2,445,000 cases and 200,000 deaths).

However, for the Caribbean island, which during the first nine months of the pandemic was a model of control and good management of the epidemic - until January 1, 2021, Cuba registered only 12,056 positive cases and 146 deaths - the great increase in the spread of the coronavirus in recent weeks is something extraordinary that has set off all the alarms.

The number of patients began to grow exponentially in mid-December, after the reopening of airports and the arrival of tens of thousands of travelers, mostly Cuban-Americans who came to visit their families.

The authorities attribute the outbreak to the relaxation of security protocols and preventive health and social distancing measures, both for individuals and institutions, which has caused 10 of the 15 Cuban provinces that had advanced towards the normality have returned to the epidemiological phase, including Havana.

Closing of bars in Havana

For two months, various restrictive and containment measures have been in force in the Cuban capital, including the closure of bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and beaches, the suspension of all teaching activities, the curfew from nine o'clock at night and the limitation of public transport hours.

The arrival of flights from countries with high rates of spread of the epidemic has also been reduced and quarantine in hotels is mandatory for tourists or mandatory isolation in state centers for contacts of confirmed cases.

None of these measures has succeeded in stopping the spread of infections.

The governor of Havana, Reinaldo García Zapata, affirmed that the places where the greatest transmission is being generated are “homes with home isolation and work centers”, noting that in labor institutions

“

indiscipline and non-compliance with health protocols, the excess of workers and the untimely information of positive cases have created a complex situation ”.

Although the authorities do not speak directly about the large queues that form daily in front of shops and businesses, derived from the acute shortage of food and basic necessities -Cuba is currently going through one of the worst economic crises in its history, with a cumulative fall of 11% of GDP last year-, this is one of the factors that most concern and make it difficult to control the transmission of the coronavirus.

The problem of queues is impossible to solve at this time, as the State cannot guarantee the stable supply of goods and people have to go out to the streets every day to guarantee their subsistence.

For more problems, this occurs just when the country has begun a complex and traumatic monetary reform that has caused inflation to skyrocket and Cubans lose a good part of their purchasing power.

Faced with these very difficult circumstances, the Cuban Government has put its foot on the accelerator to get its own vaccine that allows it to immunize its population, something that it intends to achieve before the end of the year.

Subscribe here

to the

EL PAÍS América

newsletter

and receive all the informative keys of the current situation in the region.