September shows complex situation due to Covid-19 in Cuba

When summarizing the complex epidemiological situation, with a marked emphasis on Havana and Ciego de Ávila, the National Director of Epidemiology, Francisco Durán, stated in a press conference that in these two provinces they are working hard to control the disease, without neglecting to the rest of the national territory.

In this regard, he drew attention that six provinces: Pinar del Rio, Las Tunas, Villa Clara, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud for several weeks, a few months, have not reported cases of Covid -19.

Durán also signified the effort made to increase in recent weeks the number of PCR tests carried out and processed to detect asymptomatic cases or not, which already reach the figure of 577,150 in the 12 molecular biology laboratories that the country has, in which 7,779 samples were studied the day before.

At the end of this Thursday, 40 new cases were confirmed, with a cumulative of 5,350 since the pandemic began on March 11. Of these, 572 patients remain active, of which 565, 98.8 percent show a stable clinical evolution.

Those detected the day before are all Cubans, 39 contacts of previously confirmed cases and one without a determined source of infection, and among them nine under 20 years of age.

Until the close of yesterday, no deaths were reported, which remain at 118, and two patients were known in critical condition and five seriously.

In the previous day, 45 medical discharges were made, so that there are already 4,658 people recovered from the disease, thanks to the effectiveness of protocols and medicines applied in the care centers dedicated to the care of patients with Covid-19.

Durán insisted on maintaining strict surveillance since a characteristic of this disease is the non-visible appearance of symptoms in many cases, 92.5 of those diagnosed to date, which makes the work of the health personnel involved in the massive inquiries.

The national director of Epidemiology also explained the intermittent occurrence of negative or positive results of PCR tests in patients discharged from the hospital, even in hospitalized patients, due to the permanence of viral load in the body, which does not translate into re-infection, something that is not demonstrated in Cuba or in the world.

Durán insisted on the difficult international situation due to Covid-19, with almost 32 million infected by SARS-Cov2 and 978 thousand 284 deaths, with the worst scenario in the Americas, a region that contributes 50.15 percent of all cases worldwide, and where they exceed 16 million infections and 541 thousand 624 deaths.