Cuban president calls for reinforcement of measures in Havana where cases of coronavirus have increased

The President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, has called for the reinforcement of control measures in six municipalities of Havana -- Cerro, Cotorro, Centro Habana, Arroyo Naranjo, Diez de Octubre and San Miguel del Padrón -- where over the past several days the cases of COVID-19 have increased.  On Monday, eight cases were reported in the capital.

Based on the greater mobility that the Havana population is having, after entering the first phase of recovery, the head of state considered that in the most complicated areas, even total quarantine should be applied, as if we were, he said, in the worst stage of the epidemic and thus cut off the transmission of the disease.

Regarding the analysis of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of COVID-19 - led by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, and in which Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa also participates, Deputy Prime Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda said that the trend in Havana has been to increase the number of cases, "which is not directly related to having initiated the recovery stage in its first phase, but something that was on the rise and has been evident in the cases we've had."

"We must continue to insist," he said, "on the perception of risk in relation to this disease, because it is really appreciated that not all places are acting with due discipline and rigor that correspond to this phase of recovery."

Morales Ojeda reported that in Havana the decision was taken to expand laboratory surveillance capacities, "no longer just to 1,500 pcr tests per day, but to more than 2,000," to reach the entire possible population at risk, mainly in the six municipalities with the most complex epidemiological situation.