Minister of Health evaluates health situation in Santiago de Cuba

The Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal, assessed in Santiago de Cuba on Friday the complicated epidemiological situation of that province due to Covid-19.

The territory is currently in a limited autochthonous transmission phase.

Together with the territory's leading authorities,  Doctor Portal evaluated the recent sanitary measures for the containment of SARS-CoV2, which will be reinforced this weekend with the closing of gastronomic centers and the main streets for sanitizing.

Portal considered that the last two weeks have been of an increase in the number of cases and a great dispersion that reaches the nine municipalities of the eastern province, in addition to a remarkable lethality that includes 12 deaths, as the most unfortunate balance of this emergency.

He insisted on the need to close cracks in the timely identification of those infected, their arrival to the assistance centers, and the knowledge of the PCR test results, especially for the most complex patients.

The Minister also pointed out that the rise in positive diagnoses of the pandemic was related to the failure of travelers to comply with the regulations.

He also identified the late access of some patients to health centers with deficiencies in the daily investigations. This action requires strengthening and priority as one of the essential links in the confrontation.

The presence of the Ministry of Public Health's leading authority added to that of several specialists of that organism who in recent days arrived in the province to reinforce the work to lower the daily incidence of the new coronavirus.

The Laboratory of Molecular Biology, one of the first three that began these tests in the country, reached the daily figure of one thousand 149 samples. It is ready to achieve the capacity to process 2 500 PCRs daily with newly installed equipment.