COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba

COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba

File:Cuba COVID-19.png
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
First case	Trinidad
Arrival date	24 February 2020 ()
Deaths	1,180
Confirmed cases	170,854
Suspected cases‡	5,000
Official website
https://covid19cubadata.github.io/#cuba
‡ Suspected cases have not been confirmed as being due to this strain of influenza by laboratory tests, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Cuba on 11 March 2020 when three Italian tourists tested positive for the virus.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

Cuba faces multiple domestic challenges in its response to the ongoing pandemic. Health professionals are facing challenges including shortages of medical supplies, poor sanitary conditions, and low wages. Cuba also has one of the oldest populations in the Americas and one quarter of the population is considered at-risk. Additionally, Cuba's economy is suffering due to the global decrease in tourism amid the pandemic. As a consequence, the government began increasing centralization of the economy in an effort to prevent a deeper economic crisis like the one experienced by the country after the end of the Cold War.

Cuba's policy of "medical internationalism" has played a prominent role in the country's response to the COVID-19 crisis. Cuba sent medical personnel to the hardest-hit Italian wealthy region of Lombardy, as well as Angola and a dozen Caribbean states including Suriname.

Cuba has engaged effective COVID-19 preventive measures, and despite the concurrent economic crisis and shortages of consumer products, officials have reporter that the country's population has only suffered minimal losses. Regular testing, wearing of face masks, and health visits by nursing professionals have kept the reported case loads and mortality rates lower than in most countries of the Americas.

Timeline

Template:COVID-19 pandemic data/Cuba medical cases chart

March 2020

On 11 March, the first three cases in Cuba were confirmed. The patients were Italian tourists. They were kept in isolation at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in Havana.

The government urged citizens to make their own face masks, while the textile industry was drafted to fabricate them. People were advised to carry several cloth face masks with them, depending on how many hours they plan to spend in public areas.

On 12 March, a fourth confirmed case was announced. This was a Cuban, whose wife had arrived from Milan, Italy on 24 February, and who had started showing symptoms on 27 February. The husband had begun to show symptoms by 8 March. Both were tested and he was positive. The wife was stated to be negative because the disease had run its course.

On 16 March, the cruise ship MS Braemar, with over 1,000 passengers and crew on board, was given permission to berth in Cuba after being rejected by the Bahamas. At least five passengers have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). British citizens were able to take flights home after both governments reached an agreement on their repatriation.

On 17 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 7.

On 18 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 10, and the first death was announced, a 61-year old Italian who had been one of the first three confirmed.

On 19 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 16.

On 20 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 21. Also, it was announced that Cuba will restrict entry to residents with effect from 24 March. Only Cuban residents may enter, that is, if they have not been outside of Cuba for more than 24 months; as well as foreigners residing on the island.

On 22 March, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) of Cuba raised the number of coronavirus infections on the island to 35 but were monitoring more than 950 suspected cases, according to information published by the state agency on its website.

On 23 March, authorities in Cuba raised the number of coronavirus patients to 48.

On 24 March, the Cuban government closed all schools until at least 20 April.

Visitors who arrived between 17 and 23 March were required to be tested for the coronavirus.

As of 30 March, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases was at 170, with 4 deaths.

April 2020

With effect from midnight on 1 April, Cuba suspended the arrival of all international flights.

On 4 April, authorities in Cuba raised the number of coronavirus patients to 288.

As of 15 April, there were 755 cases of COVID-19 in Cuba, there were 18,856 total tests done so far

May 2020

As of 12 May, new cases had fallen to less than 20 per day, and a program of mass testing was beginning.

As of 30 May, the city of Havana represented slightly more than half of the total confirmed cases.

Vaccination

Cuba is the smallest country worldwide to develop its own vaccine against Covid-19, aiming to achieve widespread vaccination solely with homegrown vaccines. Cuba has developed two of the 23 vaccines worldwide that have entered phase III trials. The vaccines Soberana 2, derived from the Spanish word sovereign, and Abdala, named after a poem of the Cuban national hero José Martí, are being used for a mass vaccination campaign that aims to vaccinate 1,7 million Cubans in Havana. From the beginning of the campaign vaccine hesitancy seemed to be low, as thousands of Cubans were vaccinated voluntarily as part of clinical studies and 150,000 health care workers got vaccinated as part of an "interventional study". The US embargo on Cuba significantly slowed down the process of developing vaccines, as it restricts the medical equipment the island can import. Indeed, Cuban research teams rely on only one spectrometer, which is a machine that can analyse a vaccine's chemical structure. In spite of the relatively slow development process, Cuba aims to manufacture 100 million doses of Soberana 2 in 2021 to cover its population and to export the surplus. If Cuba reaches its goal of widespread vaccination, it will be among the first countries in the hemisphere to achieve this. On June 21, 2021, Cuba reported that its Abdala vaccine is 92.28% effective against COVID-19. However, widespread vaccination has been limited by the shortage of disposable syringes which the country does not produce.

See also

• COVID-19 pandemic in North America
• COVID-19 pandemic by country
• 2020 in the Caribbean
• Influx of disease in the Caribbean
• HIV/AIDS in Latin America
• 2013–2014 chikungunya outbreak
• 2009 swine flu pandemic
• 2019–2020 dengue fever epidemic