Marking homes with coronavirus and more surveillance patrols: Cuba’s measures at worst time of pandemic

The Cuban government has responded with several measures to the worst week of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic. Mobility restrictions between the quarantined territories and the signs of houses and facilities where there may be isolated people will be implemented.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz led a meeting in which some of these new restrictions were agreed, which in principle will continue to be applied in the coming days for the areas the most circulating of the virus, such as Havana.

The government wants to ban mobility between territories where quarantine measures and more surveillance patrols have been put in place to ensure various restrictions are observed. Thus, he stressed that he will apply the fines more rigorously to parents whose children are on the streets and to those who do not use the mask correctly or do not keep social distance.

A monitoring system will be put in place to verify the extent to which isolated cases in homes comply with established protocol. His plan is to mark homes where there are isolated people, which seems to be taken from the past, and can create discrimination within society.

In addition, monitor public spaces to avoid violations of the restrictions imposed. One of the outstanding issues that the Cuban authorities have is the control of long lines in the markets, due to the shortage of basic necessities and where crowds of people are generated.

Health Minister José Ángel Portal admitted that “since the last week of January, the epidemic has maintained a different pattern”, with an upsurge in infections and increasing transmission of the virus in territories where it was apparently controlled .

Thus, he attributed this reality to a concatenation of factors, including “deficiencies” in adherence to protocols, delays in admitting confirmed or suspected cases and non-compliance with quarantine, such that “No effective community isolation is always guaranteed”.

The Minister also noted that there may be a “decrease in the perception of risk” by citizens, both because of the time that has elapsed since the start of the emergency and because of the progress of the trials of the Soberana 02 and Abdala vaccines. This week, more than 92,000 people participating in the trials started receiving the second dose.

On the other hand, the authorities aspire to strengthen their capacities to ensure that admission and isolation protocols are respected at all times, with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities or the elderly living alone.

Cuba accumulates a total of 81,640 positive cases of COVID-19. At least 440 died since the start of the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Public Health, and estimates that there are nearly 5,300 active cases. The figures are still low compared to other countries in the zone such as the Dominican Republic, which has more than 250,000 infections and 3,300 deaths, Panama with 356,000 infected and 6,100 deaths, or Mexico with 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 it had registered only 12,056 positive cases and 146 deaths, the strong growth in the spread of the virus in recent weeks has raised all alarms.

KEEP READING: