Cuban doctors ready to help fight virus in S.Africa

More than 200 Cuban healthcare workers who arrived in South Africa last month to help curb the spread of COVID-19 have completed their quarantines and are ready to start work, according to a statement.

''We have successfully completed, in both Cuba and South Africa, the strict periods of preventive quarantine and we are all fully ready to depart for the different provinces of the country and immediately begin the difficult but noble task that has been entrusted to us,'' said the group’s statement late Thursday.

''It was a moral duty for us to immediately respond to the request for assistance that we were made to face, together with our South African brothers and sisters, this terrible virus.

''Just as we fought together, South Africans and Cubans, against the Apartheid regime, together we will face and overcome the pandemic,'' they added.

The group includes experts in the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, and public health, and family physicians to guide interventions through door-to-door testing and to assist local health workers in health promotion and disease surveillance at the community level, the statement said.

Healthcare technology engineers are also there to assist in maintaining the inventory, deployment, and repair of aged medical equipment, and experts will provide technical assistance while working with local experts.

Cuba has sent healthcare workers to several countries worldwide to help curb the spread of the virus.

South Africa is the hardest-hit country in Africa, with confirmed 12,739 virus cases so far, along with 238 deaths and 5,676 recoveries, according to the latest figures by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.