Roberto Bastidas: Recent Episodes
Roberto Bastidas
Escucha este podcast y muchos más en www.ivoox.com o en las apps de iVoox para iOS, Android o Windows Phone.
We offer our national and international news, followed by Susana Nieves and our commentary "Viewpoint." Cristina Escobar has her very popular radio program "Cuba Today." Lena Valverde brings us her program "The Scientific and Medical Report." Abel Vasquez has his exclusive sports report and we'll hear "Two Wings of the Same Bird" with Rosa Meneses Albizu Campos. And Lena Valverde has cultural news with the "Arts Roundup."
No child or pregnant woman has died in Cuba due to Covid-19. It can be said easily, and fast, but it's a fact that is only possible when a determined political will exists, combined with many many people committed to protecting pregnancy and babies. The promise is that by the end of the year everyone in Cuba will be immunized against Covid-19. In spite of the mistakes, the lives we’ve lost, the economic cost of all of this, in spite of everything, I still believe that the story of the pandemic in Cuba is a story of success.
79 democrats from the US Congress urged President Joe Biden to change Trump’s policy on Cuba… The CIA is expanding an investigation into the health incidents that affected US diplomats in Cuba and China, the alleged reason behind the virtual closure of the US Embassy in Havana… And yesterday was the twenty fifth anniversary of the enactment of the Helms Burton Act, which changed sanctions on Cuba from a presidential policy, to legislation that seems to be written in stone.
Privately self-employed people or owners of non-state businesses in Cuba are now faced with a more flexible environment which should boost creativity and growth… If a Cuban was thinking about founding a new business and her or his idea was not legal, now, it probably is… The government substituted the narrow list of 127 allowed activities for 124 banned ones, providing room for thousands of new ideas… How is this working out?
Good morning to you, everybody that make this broadcast possible, and to all those who tune in here in Cuba and also who tune in from abroad. We begin our briefing today conveying our condolences to a Cuban family and friends because of the death yesterday of one patient. We are talking about a 77-year-old female patient with a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic renal insufficiency and she was being treated with dialyses, and she had been initially admitted with a cerebrovascular hemorrhagic disease. After 12 days of evolution, and two days at the ICU, she developed a host of complications, it was necessary to place a pacemaker on her, and yesterday she died. We regret this loss and reiterate our condolences to her families and friends. As of this date, 1986 patients are admitted in our country’s hospitals. 19 in surveillance, suspects 1380, and 587 confirmed. 5264 people are under observation by the primary healthcare system. Yesterday 1946 samples were processed to detect the presence of the SARS Cov2 and the COVID-19 disease. At the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine –IPK 942, at the molecular biology laboratory of Villa Clara 425, in Santiago de Cuba 188, in Havana 169, in the Brother Ameijeiras Hospital laboratory 129, and at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center laboratory 94 patients. As a result of the analysis of the 1946 samples, 12 people tested positive to the Sars-Cov-2 virus. This represents 0,6% of the people studied. As you may notice, there are fewer cases than the number we have been reporting in recent days. In fact, is the lowest number we have had over the last 15 or 21 days of confirmed cases.
Hence, in our country, the cumulative total of cases studied stands at 63 560, and of them, 1741, that is 2, 7% have tested positive. The 12 cases confirmed yesterday were Cuban. 10 were contacts of confirmed cases, bringing to 1488 the number of confirmed cases in Cuba, who have as a source of infection cases previously diagnosed with COVID-19. And here we always reiterate the importance of the epidemiological history, and how useful it is that the people who test positive provide the largest number of people they have been in contact with over the last 14 days, to investigate those people, who usually become the source of the highest detection of people carrying the virus. Yesterday, in 2 cases the source of infection could not be identified, and to date, the country accumulates 83 people, that is 4,8% whose source of infection remains unknown. Among the confirmed cases yesterday none of them had a source of infection overseas, but 129 people have reported this incidence, for a 7,4% of confirmed cases. These are people who have been abroad and once they are back in the country, and after the period of incubation, they test positive to the disease. Of the 12 new cases, five are female and 7 are male, that is 58,3 %, and 51,4% of diagnosed cases in our country are male. Of all cases reported yesterday, 75%, and notice how this indicator grows every day, nine of the 12 cases were asymptomatic. And we always reiterate the importance of protection when we go out of homes, we have to make sure that the outing is necessary, we have to bear in mind that the number of people infected that spreads the disease in the community Is unknown, because they show no symptoms of the disease. Of the cases confirmed yesterday, the age groups more affected were those from 40 to 60 years of age, with 6 cases, followed by 2 reported in the group of 60 years and total 8, of the 12 confirmed cases. The provinces with the highest number of cases are Havana, with 4, 33,3%, Villa Clara with 3, and, Ciego de Avila with 2. That´s the distribution of the cases…..
Of the 1741 patients diagnosed with the disease in our country, 579 have a stable clinical evolution. They represent 98,6% of the active cases we have today, this estimate covers all diagnosed cases who remain admitted to our hospitals. These exclude those who have been discharged, the people who have died and the two evacuees. 98.6% of those people admitted diagnosed with COVID19, are showing a stable clinical evolution. We regrettably lost one-person yesterday, so that adds up to 74 deaths. This represents a lethality rate of 4.2%. It must be said the region of the Americas is reporting today a lethality of 5,9%. And 13 countries have lethality rates higher than the average of 5,9%. With high death tolls in Canada, Brazil, in some Caribbean islands, in the United States and Mexico. One hears every day about the high number of deaths reported in these countries. We have the two evacuees and there have already been 1078 discharges, 47 of them yesterday. For sixth consecutive day the number of discharges is higher than the number of people being admitted, and this balance shows how the curve is being flattened. Let me give you the data on the discharges by province. We can say that of the 1078 discharges that have accumulated to date, 34 are from Pinar del Río, 28 from Artemisa and 28 from Havana -- which is the one with the highest number of discharges because it is also the one with the highest number of confirmed cases -- are 426, 21 from Mayabeque, 78 from Matanzas, 163 from Villa Clara, 11 from Cienfuegos, 56 from Sancti Spíritus, 77 from Ciego de Ávila, 33 from Camagüey, 8 from Las Tunas, 71 from Holguin, 12 from Grama, 35 from Santiago de Cuba, 11 from Guantánamo and 14 from the special municipality Isla de la Juventud.
As you can see, a significant number of people have already been discharged from the hospitals. They are in the recovery phase with limited or restricted movement in their homes and some have already joined their normal work activities and their daily lives. Today, we have to report that 8 patients are in critical or serious condition. Five are in critical and three are in serious condition, the same number as yesterday. 13:04 La misma cifra de ayer. 13:47 Desde el punto de vista del movimiento migratorio Turning now to the migratory flow, yesterday, 147 travelers entered our country. 143 are Cuban residents, 26 crew members, 4 foreigners on official missions, and the flights came from Venezuela, Canada, Russia, China, and Haiti. Likewise, 402 passengers left, among them Cubans who live in the country in the fulfillment of various activities in flights bound to Venezuela, Canada and the United States. Thus, in Cuba there are 6,527 emigrants and 4,268 foreigners, for a total of 10 795 visitors, similar number as the one reported yesterday. Almost the same number of foreigners staying in rental house, 948 in the same municipality Santiago de Cuba, Plaza, Centro Habana and Playa. From the international point of view, As of May 7, 184 countries remain reporting confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 3,713,730 …. confirmed cases, 89, 993 in one day in the world…. and still it is very alarming that despite the time of evolution of this pandemic, and this is something the director of the World Health Organization and other international agencies have warned about, , this is a pandemic that is not showing any sign of reduction, as it was expected at this time. Although it is true that not all countries, and I believe our television keeps us informed about this, not all countries have adopted the restriction measures with the same rigor as, for example, those adopted by China at the outset and which, naturally, helped to bring the pandemic under control in the countries where they have been applied.
These 6 000 deaths in the world yesterday give a total of 263 208 deaths, which gives a lethality of 7.09%. In the Americas, with 1,595,437 confirmed cases, we are talking about 41,592 in a single day, 42.96% of the confirmed cases in the world. And 3,556 deaths yesterday, for a cumulative total of 94,122 deaths, this gives a lethality greater than that of yesterday. We can only say that the specific lethality rate in our country, as we have already said, is 4.02. Now, the positive rate of the provinces of our country, that is, the positive rate per 100. 000 inhabitants, in our country it is of 15,5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, The special municipality Isle of Youth remains in first place with 50.4, Havana with 38.7, Villa Clara 26.9, Ciego de Avila 20.4, Matanzas 17.8, Sancti Spiritus 14.4, Mayabeque 12.5, Holguín 9, Pinar del Río 8.6, Artemisa 6.2, Cienfuegos 5.9, Camagüey 5.2, and Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Las Tunas are reporting a positive rate below 5. As I have explained on other occasions, the rate allows you to remove the effect of the population, which is not the same when talking about cases in absolute numbers, and the rate explains s the risk for each of the territories.
Good morning to you and the audience that tune in every morning. The beginning of our briefing today is sad because we have to convey our heartfelt condolences to four families, group of friends, because regrettably we have to report today the death of four people. We are talking about an 83-year-old male patient from the municipality of Camajuani, in the province of Villa Clara, with a pathological history of high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, and was also bedridden. He was admitted for 6 days after having started with respiratory manifestations, much weakness and anorexia, and after a stay of two days in the intensive care unit he presented a group of complications: deterioration of consciousness, it was necessary to intubate him, and unfortunately, yesterday he went into cardiorespiratory arrest from which it was not possible to bring him back to life. We very much regret the death of this gentleman yesterday. we have to lament the death of a 79-year-old male patient from here in Havana province, in the municipality of Guanabacoa, with a history of high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, an esophageal neoplasm. He is a patient who was also bedridden and who unfortunately went to hospital late and could not be resuscitated due to the degree of complications he presented at the time he went to the hospital. Just after his arrival he made a cardiorespiratory arrest and we tried to resuscitate him, but it was not possible to revive him. A 94-year-old woman from San Miguel del Padrón in Havana dies with a history of bronchial asthma, dementia and long term bed rest. She was admitted to hospital for 4 days and also presented a group of complications from which it was not possible to save her. She presented a respiratory problem with many complications and finally yesterday she went into cardiorespiratory arrest and it was not possible to revive her. We are very sorry and we give our condolences for the death yesterday of a 92-year-old patient from the province of Sancti Spíritus, with a history of ischemic cardiopathy, a senile dementia, who remained in hospital for 5 days and two days in the intensive care unit, which also had many clinical complications and yesterday he presented an acute myocardial infarction and with the complications he had it was not possible to revive him either. We very much regret the death of these four people yesterday, despite the efforts of our professionals to use the established therapy, but the complications that were presented did not make it possible for them to recover. We have to report as well that among the patients admitted to our hospitals diagnosed with COVID-19, five are in critical condition, one more than yesterday, and three in serious condition, seven less than yesterday.
Today we are reporting 2370 patients admitted to our hospitals, 29 in surveillance, suspects 1718, and 623 confirmed. 6362 people are under observation by the primary healthcare system Yesterday 1965 samples were processed to detect the presence of the SARS Cov2 and the COVID-19 disease. At the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine –IPK 785, at the molecular biology laboratory of Havana 347, in Villa Clara 290, in Santiago de Cuba,281, in the Brother Ameijeiras Hospital laboratory 133, in the Civil Defense laboratory 81, and at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center laboratory, 48 patients. As a result of the analysis of the 1965 samples,26, that is 1,3% of the samples tested positive The 26 cases confirmed yesterday were Cuban. 23 of them, or 88,4 % were contacts of confirmed cases, bringing to 1478 the number of confirmed cases in Cuba, that is, 85,5% are people who have been related to a person who was already confirmed as positive to COVID-19. Hence the importance of surveillance, the admission, which at times is not well understood by people who present no symptoms of the disease. These people are hospitalized because they are a contact of a person who was confirmed with the disease. So, as I said 1478 people, 85,5% are contacts of confirmed cases Yesterday, in 3 cases the source of infection could not be identified, and to date, the country accumulates 81 cases, that is 4,7% of confirmed cases, whose source of infection remains unknown. 129 cases have a source of infection abroad. Of the 26 new cases, the largest number, 53,8% are female. At present, the female sex amounts to 48,6 %, that is 841 diagnosed patients are female. 12 male patients tested positive yesterday, 41,1%, however, in the cumulative total, male patients have a higher number, with 51.4% of the cases. Yesterday, of the 26 diagnosed cases, 16, that is 61,1% were asymptomatic. And we always take the opportunity to highlight the importance of this subject, from the prevention point of view. If we believe that we are going to get infected from a person who is coughing or sneezing, that´s wrong, we can get the disease from anybody who shows no symptoms, at all. To date of all the confirmed cases in the country, of the 1729 cases, 61,5% were asymptomatic. Of the cases confirmed yesterday, the age groups more affected were those younger of 40 years, with 13 cases, followed by the 40 to 60 years of age group with 26,9 %, and over 60 years with 23,1%. If we combine these two last groups, patients older than 40 account for 50% . The province in which the highest number of cases were confirmed yesterday is Havana, with 13 cases. 6 were reported in the Habana del Este Municipality, two were from San Miguel del Padron, and two were from Marianao, and one each from Habana Vieja, Centro Habana and Guanabacoa…. Minute 12:58
Of the 1729 patients diagnosed with the disease in our country, 615 have a stable clinical evolution. They represent 98,7% of the active cases we have today. As I said at the beginning, we regrettably lost four people yesterday, so that adds up to 73 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic in our country, that gives a lethality rate of 4.2% of the diagnosed cases. It must be said that in the Americas region, to compare it with our country, Cuba today ranks 13th. There are a total of 12 countries that have a higher percentage of lethality than Cuba. We have the two evacuees and there have already been 1031 discharges, 30 of them yesterday. That is to say, 59.6% of the cases that have been diagnosed in our country have been discharged from health units and some of them are already working. As you can see, today is yet another day in which the number of discharges, which are 30, exceeds the number of confirmed cases... When we see the graph of the curve, of the peak, we unquestionably continue to go down and we hope that, with the effort of all and the fulfillment of all the measures, which is still not appreciated as it should be, we will achieve the reduction of the number of cases even more. Disminuyamos mucho mas el numero de casos. Minute 16:54 17: 19 En el día de ayer en el movimiento migratorio In terms of the migratory flow, yesterday, 122 travelers entered our country. 121 are Cubans who, as I said, were abroad when the COVID measures were taken and who returned yesterday. There was a foreigner who is not a permanent resident, two who were on an official mission and all of them flew in from Mexico. Also yesterday, 105 people left, including foreigners who were here and emigrants. Thus, there are still 10,981 visitors in Cuba, including 6,634 emigrants and 4,347 foreigners.
In rental house it is not even worth mentioning, there is a similar number 953, and they are staying in the same municipality Santiago, Plaza, Centro Habana and Playa, that does not have much movement. From the international point of view, As of May 6, the situation in the word was very complicated, I watch the news and 184 countries are reporting cases of COVID-19, with 3,623,803 …. confirmed cases, 79,581 in one day…. and cumulative total of 255,880 deaths, with 5, 903 in a single day. This implies a worldwide lethality of 7.09%. In the Americas region, there are already 1,553,845 confirmed cases, 39,917 more than yesterday. It already represents 42.9% of the total number of reported cases in the world, with a total of 90,566 deaths, 3334 on a single day and a lethality, as I said earlier, of 5.78%. We do not want to finish this first part without referring to the positive rate in our country. The special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, with 50.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, remains in first place. It is followed by La Habana with 38.5, Villa Clara with 26.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, Ciego de Ávila 19.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, matanza 17.6, Santi espíritu 14 4, Mayabeque 12.5, Holguín 9, Pinar del Río 8.6, Artemisa 6.2, Cienfuegos 6.9 and Camagüey 5.1.
This is the situation of the rates in our country yesterday
Good morning to you and the audience that tune in every morning who is interested to know about developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Cuba we have at present the same number visitors, 11 071, 6667 Cubans residing abroad, and 4384 foreigners. No changes in the number of foreigners in rental houses, 950. The largest number is in Santiago, Centro Habana, Plaza, and Playa municipality. As of 12 o clock last night there 2341 people were admitted in our hospitals. In surveillance 61, suspects 165 9, and confirmed 631. In primary health care, a total of 5992. To detect the presence of the SARS Cov2 virus 1937 samples were studied yesterday. 877 at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine -IPK, at the molecular biology laboratory of Santiago de Cuba province 375, in Villa Clara 325, in Havana 158, in the Civil Defense laboratory 110, and 92 at the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology laboratory. As a result of the analysis of the 1937 samples, 18 people tested positive. With yesterday´s tests, we have a cumulative total of 59 648 samples studied and 1703 positive cases, that is 2.9 % of the samples processed in our country. The 18 cases confirmed yesterday were Cuban. 12 of them, or 66,6 % were contacts of confirmed cases, bringing to 1455 the number of confirmed cases in Cuba, that is, 87,5% are people who have been related to a person who was already confirmed as positive to COVID-19. Yesterday, in 3 cases the source of infection could not be identified, and to date, the country accumulates 78 cases whose source of infection remains unknown, for a 4.6%.
Of the newly confirmed cases, three have sources of infection abroad. Of the 1703 cases confirmed in Cuba, 129 have a source of infection abroad, which is 7.7%. Yesterday I was asked how they could have a source of infection abroad, if foreigners are not entering our country. Well, although we have not offered details, flights have been arriving from abroad with Cubans who were abroad at the time the restriction measures were taken. They are Cubans who have been arriving in our country from Mexico and other countries. That is why we are talking about a confirmed Cuban case that has as a source of infection abroad. He returned from his stay in some country of the world and arriving here he was already in the incubation period and the disease was confirmed. The female sex has fewer cases, 48,5 % of the 18 confirmed cases, pardon me, the female sex has more cases with 55,5%, that is 10, are female. Nonetheless, in the cumulative total, 48,5% is female. Yesterday, 44,4 % of the cases were male, but in the epidemic overall figure, the male cases account for 51,4% 77,7% of the new cases were asymptomatic, a very high risk group, because the people cannot be detected unless they are surveyed. To date of all the confirmed cases in the country 810 have been asymptomatic at the moment they have tested positive, and this accounts 48% of all confirmed cases as of this date. Of the 18 cases confirmed yesterday, the largest number is between 40 and 59 years of age with 10 cases, followed by 60 and over with 5 cases. The province in which the highest number of cases were confirmed is Havana, which yesterday had eight cases confirmed.
Of the 1703 patients diagnosed with the disease in our country, 98.8%, that is 617 have a stable clinical evolution. Some people ask me what you mean by active case. I think yesterday when we talked about the behavior of the curves, we talked about this subject. Active, I was telling the mathematicians, is the one that is confirmed and is admitted to some health unit, because from the total of confirmed cases, you take out the ones that have already died unfortunately, the ones that have been evacuated and the ones that are discharged. Therefore, what is left? those who are admitted at this time. The active cases until 12 o'clock last night were 631 people. Of these 631, with a stable clinical evolution, it is 97.8%, that is 617. We are not reporting any deaths today, you may think that is a lie, but for me it is really flattering not to have to report any deaths, because this denotes that lives are being saved. So that adds up to 69 deaths, up to the last one we had two days ago, and that gives a lethality rate of 4.05. We always mention the two evacuees since the beginning of the epidemic, and of the of 1703 diagnosed patients in the country, there have been 1001 discharges, 1001 people who have recovered from the disease, 47 of them yesterday. This represents 58.8% of all cases that have been diagnosed in our country. We always refer to the incidence rates of positive cases by province. I am talking about the rate per 100,000 inhabitants and in this case, as in previous days, the special municipality of Isle of Youth remains in first place with a rate of 50, 4, Havana follows with 37.9, Villa Clara with 25.2; Ciego de Avila with 16.7; Matanzas with 17.5, Sancti Spiritus with 14.4, Mayabeque with a rate of 12.5; Holguín with 9, Pinar del Rio with 8.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. Artemisa 6, Cienfuegos 5.9 and Camagüey 5.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. The rest of the provinces is below 5. This has been the behavior that has been maintained and the incidence rates indicate the territories where we have had a greater number of confirmed cases, regardless of the fact that we do not always talk about if they remain in that standing.
We can add that as of yesterday, the 1703 confirmed cases are in 106 municipalities of our country and as for the lethality. which I said that it was 4.05 %, the lethality in the region of the Americas is 5 ,76 and of the 35 countries of the region of the Americas ten have lethality rate above 5.76 . I have also been asked how many discharges have been made by province. I'm going to refer to the clinical discharges. You know that after 14 days of evolution and with a regression of the symptoms, a negative pcr test, I am discharged from the clinic and I go to my home where I remain in restriction of movement and of visits, with a follow-up by my family doctor for 15 more days. After 15 days, I am talking about a month from the start of the symptoms or from the detection as an asymptomatic contact, the pcr test in real time is repeated and if the result is negative, then I am epidemiologically discharged and can go back to work, to my normal activity. In the case of Pinar del Río, 31 cases have been discharged up to yesterday; in the case of Artemisa 28, Havana has already 409 people discharged; in Mayabeque 18, in Matanzas 52; in Villa Clara 158; in Cienfuegos 11; in Sancti Spiritus 54; in Ciego de Ávila 72; in Camagüey 35; in Las Tunas 8; in Holguín 59; in Granma 10; in Santiago de Cuba 35; in Guantánamo 3; and in the special municipality of Isle of Youth 18, for a cumulative total of 1001 discharges, which as I previously said, account for 58,8% of the 1703 cases confirmed in our country. Yesterday 47 people were discharged Recalling the issue of the curve and the peak, which is what the population asks most, today is the fifth day in which we have more discharges, than the number of cases that are confirmed, which gives a negative balance. Already today is the fifth day in which we continue to lower the cases and as I said, there should be confidence in relation the relaxing of behavior, because all of a sudden, a new cluster of cases is reported, like the ones we have had and our population has been informed about them. Yesterday, at the Round Table Program, our Minister spoke about all the clusters of cases that we have had in the country, a total of 42 of which 11 have been closed, and more are planned to be closed soon, but these are clusters that arise due to the failure of compliance of the protection measures or restrictions that has been proposed, thus leading to an increase of cases, and we know that all Cubans are going to work to prevent that from happening. As of yesterday, we have 4 critics and 10 serious ones, unfortunately one more critic and five more serious ones.
As of May 5, 184 countries have reported cases of VIDOC-19, with 3,544,222 confirmed cases, 76,901 in one day and 3,998 deaths in one day, for a total of 250,977, which gives a worldwide lethality of 7.08%.
In the Americas region there are already 1,513,928 confirmed cases, 37,986 in a single day. It already represents 42.72% of the total number of reported cases in the world, with a total of 87,232 deaths , 1972 on a single day and a lethality, as I said earlier, of 5.76.
Yesterday I was asked if there are 184 countries where cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, which are the ones that have not reported any cases of COVID-19, or have not detected it or do not have it.
There are 14 countries: they are North Korea, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Lesotho, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tajikistan, Tonga. Turkmenistan, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
These are the 14 countries that have not confirmed covid cases so far.
This is the information we had to provide today
Good morning to you who make this broadcast possible every day and to all the people who follow us daily among the population Yesterday, there were no deaths from this disease in our country, which makes everyone happy, the Cuban people and the health workers and others who are part of this effort. This is comforting. This doesn’t mean that we now are going to lower our guard, but it is news that we cannot deny, and it flatters us all. In Cuba today, there are the same number of Cubans residing abroad, and foreigners, 11 075. 6687 Cubans residing abroad and 4388 foreigners. No changes in rental houses, 945. The largest number is in Santiago, Centro Habana, Plaza, and Playa municipality. Admitted in our hospitals 2267 patients . In surveillance 73, suspects 1534, and confirmed 660. In primary health care, a total of 6047. People keep on asking if patients are discharged every day, and some people test negative, people who are contacts and there is no need to keep them hospitalized, why is it that data do not change that much, and I would like to reiterate that every time we confirm a case, and today we also have the good news that 17 cases were confirmed yesterday, so every time one case is confirmed, that prompts us to trace a group of contacts, that at times they may surpass 50, 60 or 70 people, and for us this is very important, because the more people we can trace, the better because we can make sure there is not further spread of the disease among that group of people, that is in a risk because it has been in contact with some who has tested positive. So there is no direct relation between the amount of people discharged and the number of people who remains admitted to hospitals. Because some other people are admitted because they are contacts of a confirmed case. To detect the presence of the SARS Cov2 virus and the possible illness of COVID-19, yesterday, 2169 samples were studied. The largest number at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine -IPK-878, at the molecular biology laboratory of Santiago de Cuba province 282, Havana 285, the Brother Ameijeiras hospital 229, Villa Clara 216, The Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center 169, and the laboratory of the Civil Defense Research Center 120. As I said earlier, 17 of the 2169 samples that were studied were positive. That represents 0.8 percent of positive rate of the studied samples. In this way, the country has already accumulated a total of 57,711 samples taken for real-time PCRs, and 1,685 people have been confirmed with the presence of COVID19, which represents 2.9% of the samples studied. The 17 cases confirmed yesterday were Cuban. 10 of them, or 58.8% were contacts of confirmed cases, bringing to 1443 the number of people who have tested positive in our country, or 85.6%, have been related to a person who was already confirmed previously as a carrier of COVID19. Yesterday, in 7 cases, 41,1 % the source of infection could not be identified, and epidemiological studies are underway, and to date, after doing this with all cases whose source of infection has not been established, 75 COVID positive people whose source of infection remains unknown, for a 4.4%. Of the 17 cases, 10 were female, that is 58,8%, and of all cumulative cases of the epidemic in the country, 48,4 are female while male have a higher number with 51.6%. 47.1% of the cases were asymptomatic, and all of the confirmed cases, 47,2percent of the diagnosed cases have been asymptomatic. This is why we always reiterate the importance of complying with the protection measures advised because there is no way to know if a person is carrying the disease or not. The age groups with the most cases are the one from 40-60 age group with 7 cases and in the 60 and over age group with 6 cases. The provinces with the highest representation is Havana, with 9 cases, 52,9%, Holguin and Villa Clara with two cases each, 12,7% .
Of the 1685 patients diagnosed with the disease, 98.8%, that is 652 have a stable clinical evolution. We have a cumulative total of 69 deceased, for a lethality of 4.09 percent. There two evacuees since the beginning of the pandemic and we have a total of 954 discharges, 78 of them yesterday. This represents 56.6% of all cases that have been diagnosed in our country, who have recovered, some of them have returned to their normal lives, and other are still quarantined for two weeks in their houses, which is the pattern to follow once a person is clinically discharged. Today we have the same number of people in critical condition: there and five cases in serious condition, one less than yesterday.
Turning now to the international situation, as of May 4, there are the same 184 countries with the presence of patients with covid-19 cases. A cumulative total of 3, 467,321 confirmed cases. We are talking about 78, 656 cases confirmed on a single day. And the alarming figure of 3,367 people died in a single day and a total of 246,979 died. The world's lethality is 7.12%. In our region, the Americas, it confirmed yesterday 41,806 cases, for a total of 1, 475,942 confirmed cases, representing 42.57% of the total reported cases in the world. In a single day, 2,125 people died from COVID-19 in the regions of the Americas, for a total of 85,260 died from this disease in the region of the Americas, which gives a lethality for the region, as I said before, of 5.78%. And this is all the information we had to share today
Good morning to you who make this broadcast possible and to all the people who follow us daily among the population I want to make public the gratitude that they give us on the street and for different messages that they send us concerning the information we provide every day here. Thank you for that recognition. First, we have to start by giving our condolences to two families, two groups of colleagues and friends for the death of two people yesterday. One is a 79-year-old female patient from Havana, from Marianao, who presented a group of diseases such as end-stage lung cancer, high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease and obesity, and who had been in the hospital for a significant number of days; since 22 April she had been in intensive care. She spent 13 days in the ICU and which was actually reported at certain times as in critical condition, and as serious yesterday. Despite the efforts of the treatment and also taking into account the basic illnesses she had, unfortunately, she died in the early hours of yesterday. We are very sorry for her death and we reiterate our condolences to her family, friends and loved ones. The second person who died, also a Cuban, was 82 years old male patient from the municipality of Colon in the province of Matanzas, who presented a prostate cancer and frequent respiratory infections. He had been in the hospital for 13 days. He had been in intensive care for six days. He had already been reported as critical and despite efforts of the health personnel in his care and the treatments applied yesterday, he presented a cardiorespiratory arrest, a nd unfortunately, he died, for which we also reiterate our condolences to all his family and loved ones. In Cuba today, there are still 6687 emigrants and 4388 foreigners. Cuba maintains a figure similar to that given in previous days. The number of foreigners staying in rental houses remains the same, 945. The largest number is in Santiago, Centro Habana, Plaza, and Playa municipality. Until midnight last night, 2543 patients were admitted to Cuban hospitals. In surveillance 58, suspects 1764, and confirmed 721. In primary health care, a total of 6188 people are being monitored. To detect the presence of the SARS Cov2 virus and the possible illness of COVID-19, yesterday, 1997 samples were studied. The largest number was taken at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine -IPK-703, at the molecular biology laboratories of Santiago de Cuba province 373, Villa Clara 288, Havana 282, the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center 211, the molecular biology laboratory of Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital 94, and the laboratory of the Civil Defense Research Center 42. Of these 1997 samples that were studied yesterday, 19 were positive. That represents 0.9 percent of the samples studied. In this way, the country has already accumulated a total of 55,542 samples taken, and 1,668 people have been confirmed with the presence of COVID19, which represents 3% of the samples studied. The 19 cases confirmed yesterday were Cuban, which is what has been happening in the last few days. 13, or 68.4% were confirmed case contacts, which is a very important risk group and already in Cuba, of all the cases that have been confirmed, 1433, or 85.9% of the cases that have been diagnosed have been related to a person who was already confirmed previously as a carrier of COVID19. This denotes the risk and is the reason why every time a case is confirmed in our country we look for, as I have explained, as many people as possible who have been in connection with that confirmed case in the last 14 days. And an important group, practically all of them, are isolated, they are admitted to hospital , in isolation centers, and they are also studied. The evolution is followed during the 14 days in case any of them has already been infected. Yesterday, comrade Luis Torres Iribar, Havana's first secretary, made this observation to us, asking us to explain to the population that wonders where these people come from who are being confirmed daily. Well, they come from precisely those contacts. Previously, they were foreigners who arrived and who often came with the infection. Still, since there is no massive influx or small influx of foreigners, that group has diminished. Therefore, all these people, which is also the concern of the population, and that is what comrade Torres told us yesterday, all these people are usually admitted to a hospital, to an isolation canter. They have been admitted because they have had contact, because they have had an epidemiological element of risk, and they are diagnosed in this place. This does not mean that sometimes population studies are carried out, and they are found in some cases, but it is the minimum. As I said, 85.9% of confirmed people in the country have been contacts of confirmed cases. Yesterday, in five cases, the source of infection could not be identified and therefore, we currently have a total of 68 cases accumulated, in which the source of infection has not been established. One of the cases diagnosed yesterday had had contact with an asymptomatic foreigner. Of the 19 cases, 10 were female and 9 were male cases. The female sex was slightly higher. In terms of all the confirmed cases in our country, the sex ratio is almost the same, with 51.6%, or 861 are male. As of yesterday, 16 of the cases were asymptomatic, 84.2% of the 19 cases diagnosed yesterday were asymptomatic. Hence the importance of this group in the study being done. On the behavior of the epidemic in our country, 46.8 percent of the diagnosed cases have been asymptomatic. Of the 19 cases confirmed yesterday, the province with the highest representation is Havana, which confirmed 16 of the 19 cases, that is, 84.2 percent % The highest percentage, not to mention that p ractically all are over 20 years of age. In the 20-39 age group, there are 10 people, in the 40-59 age group there are 7, and in the 60+ age group there are two cases. Yesterday we were also requested to inform this by population rate in this age group which we will present in the coming days. It must be said that of the 1668 patients diagnosed with the disease, 712, or 41.6 percent of those diagnosed, have a stable clinical evolution. As we explained at the beginning of the intervention, with the two deaths reported yesterday, a total of 69 people have died in our country, which keeps us in a lethality of 4.1 percent. There are two people who have been evacuated, I was asked what this evacuation is, they are two foreigners: an American and a Canadian who during the evolution of their disease, when they were already a little better with the symptoms, they were not yet discharged, their relatives decided to transfer them to their countries, they put on a plane for each one, and they were returned to their respective countries practically recovered from the disease, so they were able to trav el with a group of measures. That is what we mean by evacuees. Yesterday there were 49 discharges, that makes a total of 876 releases accumulated up to yesterday, which represents 52.5% of the cases that have been diagnosed. Of the 176 children's cases, 90 have already been discharged. The group of children under one year old is 10 of these 176, from 1 to 4 years old 25, from 5 to 9 years old 44, from 10 to 14 years old 48, and 15 to 18 49 confirmed pediatric cases in these age groups.
By province, the highest number is, of course, in Havana and Villa Clara, which have 52 and 28 respectively, but cases are being diagnosed in virtually all provinces. We have even had foreign pediatric cases, and I remember in Ciego de Avila two French cases, I remember in Cienfuegos, one case too, so it is a group that has a significant number of cases. What happens is that their evolution is not as torpid as that of the adults. Minuto 32:29
It must be said that this 4.1 lethality in our country means that Cuba is still number 12, compared to the rest of the countries in the Americas. The lethality rate in the Americas is 5.8. Within the region, Cuba, with a rate of 4.1, is in twelfth place, but significantly so: Nicaragua with a rate of 14.3%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 12.5, Antigua and Barbuda 12, Guyana 11, Haiti 9.4, Suriname 10, Honduras 7.52, Mexico 9.33, Canada 6.29, Brazil 6.99, and the United States 5.86. We have to report today also with some regret that we have three patients in critical condition and 6 in serious condition. Two less critical than yesterday and two less serious than yesterday. y dos menos graves que el día de ayer. Minuto 18:33 Minuto 19:36 Está la situación en nuestro país This is the situation in our country. As of yesterday, the 184 countries with the presence of patients with covid-19 cases were reported, with a total of 3,388,665 confirmed cases. We are talking about 81,065 cases confirmed on a single day. We saw today on the Telesur ticker tape that Brazil already had around 100,000 confirmed cases, which is an alarming figure. And it’s even more alarming that 4,881 people died in a single day and a total of 243,312 died. The world's lethality is 7.18% as of yesterday. In our region, the Americas, 43,722 more confirmed cases were reported yesterday for a total of 1,434,136 confirmed cases, representing 42.3% of the total reported cases in the world. In a single day, 2451 patients died from COVID-19 in the regions of the Americas, and 83,135 died from this disease in the region of the Americas, which gives a lethality for the region, as I said before, of 5.8%. Here is our information and now we listen to the questions that may exist among journalists and the population.
Good morning to you and to all those who wake up early every morning and tune in to receive the updated information that we provide here.
We begin by reporting the death of another person yesterday. We send our heart-felt condolences to his family and friends.
We are talking here about a male patient, aged 58, a resident of Havana. This patient had a history of alcoholism and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was at the Provincial Center for Social Protection. Located in the Havana municipality of Cotorro, this center offers shelter to homeless people.
At the center, under the umbrella of the provincial civil defense council, these people receive specialized health and social security services.
This is the center, where, as we informed previously, there was an incident of limited community transmission, resulting in a cluster of Covid-19 cases, affecting 84 people.
Unfortunately, this patient’s health deteriorated very quickly. We should say that he suffered a marked physical and nutritional deterioration. He was admitted to an intensive care unit, but his condition deteriorated very quickly --in just one or two days. Yesterday, he suddenly developed a series of serious complications, namely hypertension, respiratory arrest, cyanosis and a cardiorespiratory arrest.
I reiterate, despite the emergency resuscitation maneuvers performed, doctors could not save him.
Again, our condolences to his family and friends.
Unfortunately, we began today’s update by reporting the sad news of this patient’s death.
Regarding the epidemiological situation in Cuba, let me begin by saying that the number of visitors is our country remains practically the same --6,687 Cuban residents abroad and 4,384 foreigners. A total of 945 visitors are staying at rental homes –similar to yesterday’s figure. Most of them are in eastern Santiago de Cuba in the Havana municipalities of Centro Havana, Plaza and Playa.
Up until midnight last night, 2,744 patients remained hospitalized in our country, 44 under epidemiological surveillance, 1,947 were suspected cases and 753 were laboratory confirmed Covid-19 cases. A total of 6,515 persons remain under epidemiological surveillance at primary healthcare.
Some people ask us ‘why is it that the number of hospitalized patients remains practically unchanged with every passing day.’
We then explain that every confirmed case generates a group of suspected cases, people who were in contact with that new patient who tested positive. Some of them even show symptoms of the disease and need hospitalization.
Every patient, who tests positive for Sars-Cov-2 and Covid-19 provides information on all those people that he or she had contact with. The more detailed information they provide the better, as they mention all the persons they came in contact with over the last 14 days -- regardless of whether or not these people were close contacts. These are people who may have well been infected.
That is the main reason why, as new confirmed cases emerge every day, the number of people hospitalized, under surveillance and the suspected cases also increases, as they are the contacts of those new confirmed cases.
Also, there is another group of people who remain hospitalized or under surveillance in isolation centers, due to other epidemiological risk factors.
Yesterday, a total of 2,039 samples were studied in our laboratories: 829 at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute, 281 at the Molecular Biology Laboratory in Santiago de Cuba, 373 at the Havana lab., 240 at the laboratory in Villa Clara, 188 at the laboratory of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 76 at the laboratory of the National Civil Defense Council and the remaining 52 samples were studied at the laboratory of the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.
Of the total of patients, who were tested for Covid-19 yesterday, 38 turned out positive, representing 1.9% of the total number of samples studied yesterday. This figure is bellow that registered the previous day, which as you all know was unusually high.
The country now accumulates 53,545 samples that have been studied, and 1,649 confirmed cases. This means that 3.1% of the total number of patients tested in our country have turned out positive for Covid-19.
All 38 new confirmed cases are Cuban citizens. Of these, 36, representing 94.7% are contacts of previously diagnosed cases.
Of all the confirmed cases in our country thus far, 1,420 were contacts of previously confirmed cases, accounting for 86.1%. This further highlights the importance of tracing the largest possible number of contacts of those confirmed cases through the epidemiological survey.
Of the 38 new confirmed patients yesterday, in two cases the source of the virus has not been identified. We should say here that of the total number of confirmed patients in our country thus far, in the case of 63 patients, representing 3.8%, the source of the virus could not be properly traced.
Of the new cases diagnosed yesterday, 50% are male patients. We can speak of a higher case incidence rate from the disease among men. Of the total of confirmed cases in our country, 852 are male patients, representing 51.6%.
Also, of those confirmed yesterday, 19 are female patients, bringing the total number of Covid-19 female patients in our country to 797.
89.4% of the total of new confirmed cases yesterday, that is to say 34 out of 38, were asymptomatic. The country now accumulates 772 confirmed cases, who were asymptomatic.
If we analyze the evolution of the epidemic in our country. Yesterday, we spoke about this. We mentioned that other countries report 80% of confirmed patients, who are asymptomatic.
In our country, 46.8% of all laboratory confirmed cases thus far were asymptomatic at the time they were diagnosed.
Regarding the age groups most affected, we have people under 40 with 24 cases, representing 63.1%, followed by people between 40 and 60 with 18.4%.
The province with the largest number of new cases is Havana, with 36 of the total of 38 new confirmed cases yesterday, representing 94.7%. (9:25… el 94.7%)
Of the 1,649 laboratory confirmed cases in our country thus far, 740 are clinically stable. This figure represents 98,3% of current patients. The country now accumulates 67 deaths, including the patient who died yesterday. Two patients were evacuated back to their countries of origin.
The country also accumulates 827 patients, who have been discharged from hospital -62 more yesterday. These are patients who have recovered from the disease and are sent back to their homes, where, in compliance with safety regulations, they are required to observe 14 more days under epidemiological surveillance with movement restriction. Upon completing that time, they again undergo a PCR test for further confirmation. Most of them test negative and then we can say that these are people, who have fully recovered from Covid-19.
Today, we have 5 patients in critical condition –one more compared to yesterday’s figure, and eight patients in serious condition, also 1 more than yesterday’s figure.
We should say also that with 67 deaths registered thus far, our country’s case fatality rate stands at 4.1%.
Some people ask me to compare the situation in our nation with that in the rest of the world. That is why we always try to provide here the latest on the international situation, specifically regarding the region of the Americas.
The average case fatality rate for the region of the Americas is 5.8%. However, 14 out of the 35 in the region of the Americas register case fatality rates above the region’s average. Nicaragua registers the highest case fatality rate, 14.3%, followed by Guyana and the Bahamas both with 13.4%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, Chile with 9.51%, Costa Rica with 8.34%, Brazil with 6.91%, Canada with 6.16%, the United States with 5.9%, and as I said before, Cuba is number twelve, with a case fatality rate of 4.1%. (13:24 ..con una tasa de 4.1%)
Regarding the international epidemiological situation, one more nation has now been added to the list of countries reporting Covid-19 cases –The Comoros, a country in East Africa.
Africa is a main concern for international organizations, the World Health Organization and the world in general, because in some cases, the weak health systems cannot confront diseases properly. Anyway, these countries are adopting a series of measures, but as I said, one more country is now added to the list of those reporting cases
Yesterday, there were 93,344 new confirmed cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases globally to 3,307,600. The number of deaths in a single day, yesterday, was 5,861, bringing the total to 238,431, for a case fatality rate of 7.2% globally.
As you can easily realize here, we are approaching a quarter of a million of deaths from the disease globally, which is both very sad news and a major source of concern.
Infestation rates in the region of the Americas also increase. Yesterday, a total of 50,874 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 1,390,414, representing 42% of the total number of confirmed cases reported globally. Also, yesterday, there were 3,106 new Covid-19-related deaths in the region of the Americas, for a total of 80,684 thus far. As I said before, the case fatality rate for the region of The Americas is 5.8%.
And, this is the information we had for you today, in terms of the national and international situation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Good morning To you and to those of you who accompany us a little earlier starting today every day at 9:00 a.m. We start our conference giving our condolences to the family, the relatives of two people who unfortunately died yesterday. One is a 59-year-old woman from Havana's Plaza de la Revolución with a history of suffering from bronchial asthma and obesity, who was hospitalized for 23 days. She is one of the patients that we considered critical at one point and that after 10 days of intensive care, yesterday she presented a number of complications that, despite the treatment and the efforts of our specialists, it was not possible to revive her from a cardiorespiratory arrest that ended her life. I reiterate our condolences. The other person who unfortunately died yesterday is an 87-year-old Cuban citizen from the city of Holguin, with a history of high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, a fractured hip This patient had a more rapid evolution and spent three days in intensive care. In spite of the efforts, I reiterate, the complications that he presented did not make it possible to save him, after all the efforts that were made, and reiterated, he had a very rapid evolution and a group of complications that led to his death yesterday. Now let´s turn to the situation in our country. In Cuba there are not many changes in the number of foreigners and emigrants who remain, a total of 11206. Emigrants 6704, foreigners 4 502. In rental houses either, there are 944 Santiago Centro Habana, Plaza playa in the city of Havana with the highest number of guests. Yesterday until midnight we had 2792 patients admitted to our hospital. In surveillance 51, suspects 1963, and confirmed 778. Total of 3796 people are monitored in the primary health care system. Yesterday our laboratories studied 2097 samples of SARS-cov-2 virus and covid-19 disease. In the IPK the largest number is 1089, in the laboratory of the molecular biology center of the provincial center of Villa Clara 345, in Santiago de Cuba 279, in Havana 188, in the laboratory of the hospital Brother Ameijeiras 139, and in the laboratory of the civil defense, 57 samples. As a result of the study of these 2097 samples, 74 turned out positive, 3.5 percent, a higher figure than we had had in previous days. The country has already accumulated a total of 51,506 samples taken and 1611 positive cases. 3.1 percent of the samples studied have been positive in our country. The 74 new confirmed cases are Cuban. 70, or 94.6%, are contacts of cases that had been diagnosed previously. Thus, a total of 1, 384 of the 1611 cases have been accumulated, 85.9% of which are related to a case that has been confirmed previously. In four of them, 5.4% do not specify the source of infection that later on with the investigations is often identified. In fact, the cumulative number of cases in which the source of infection has not been confirmed is 61, despite the fact that we have more than 150 cases in this situation. Of the 74 cases confirmed yesterday, 65 are male, 87.8% and in the accumulated number, there are more or less similarities between the male and female sexes. In fact, the total number of confirmed male cases in our country is 51.7% - 833 cases. Nine in the day are female, which accumulates 778 female persons who have been detected with the disease in our country, therefore there is a discreet predominance in the male sex. 87.88%, that is 65 of the 74 confirmed cases were asymptomatic and had no symptoms of the disease. Evaluating the behavior of all cases, in our country 45.8 percent of the cases have been confirmed asymptomatic at the time of the study of the samples. It must be said that by provinces, the province most affected was Havana province, which accounted for 86.5% of the total number of confirmed cases yesterday. Havana had 64 cases, they are concentrated in the municipality of Cotorro with 58, as a result of a local transmission event in a center of this municipality, 4 in central Havana and one in San Miguel, and one in the municipality of Cerro. y uno en el Municipio Cerro. Minuto 7:52
8:25 Por grupo de edades los grupos mas afectados Minute 7:52
By age group the most affected are the one from 40 to 59 years of age that accumulates 39.1 percent of the confirmed cases yesterday, and the group of 60 and more years that accumulates 33 cases, 44.5 percent of the confirmed cases yesterday. Of the 1611 patients diagnosed with the disease in our country, 767 have a stable clinical course. This represents 98.6% of the active cases that are diagnosed in our country. We regret the death of 66 people, counting the two of today, that gives a lethality of 4.1%. We had the two that were evacuated at the beginning of the epidemic and 765 discharges have already been accumulated, 51 of them yesterday, which represents 98.3 per cent of the active cases in our country.
Today, there are two fewer critical cases reported, that is, a total of 4 critical and 7 serious cases, 3 more than yesterday, minute 10:03
Minuto 11:32 Desde el punto de vista internacional Minute 11:32 From the international point of view we have to report the official data from the World Health Organization, which are the official statistics. Until last night at 12:00 midnight, there were 183 countries with cases of COVID19, an accumulated number of 3,214,256 confirmed cases, 83, 456 in one day. 232,570 deaths, 5519 in one day, and that gives a lethality of 7.24%. The region of the Americas, no less than the rest of the world, reports 1,339,450 confirmed cases, 45,933 in one day, 41.67% of the total number of reported cases in the world are in the region of the Americas and a cumulative death toll of 77,578, 2,987 in yesterday, for a lethality of 5.79%. It must be said that our country's lethality, which I referred to as 4.1, there is a group of countries that have a lethality, 13 countries have a lethality above the average in the region. In the Americas the fatality rate is of 5.79, however there are 13 countries that are above as we said yesterday the most significant are Nicaragua with 14.29, Suriname with 10, Antigua and Barbuda with 12.52, Guyana with 10.98, United States with 5.89, Brazil 6.91, Canada 5, 98, Mexico 9.67, Honduras 9.3 among those with greater lethality in the region. And this is all we had in terms of the national and international update on the new coronavirus.
Of these 2062 samples that were processed, 36 were positive for covid-19 Sars-Cov-2 , a 1.7 percent positivity of the processed samples, similar to yesterday's. In this way, our country has accumulated a total of 49,409 samples and 1,537 positive samples, confirmed patients, 3.1 percent of the samples processed. The 36 new confirmed cases were Cuban, of which 31, or 86.1 percent, are confirmed case contacts, And we add today a data that also our population that is very attentive to the evolution of this disease because it needs it. The evolution of this disease needs it. We have already said that of the 36, 31 are contacts of confirmed cases, but of the 1,537 confirmed cases in our country, 85.5% of the cases studied are contacts of confirmed cases. In 5 of the 36 new cases, the source of infection was not specified, but as I also said yesterday, out of a total of 192 cases that we had without specifying the source of infection, 57 remain. Initially we did not have it, but after the control of the outbreak, the objective of all this is to find everyone who has the virus in our country in order to isolate them, treat them, and prevent them from getting complicated and, on top of that, prevent them from continuing to spread the disease. Of the 36 cases diagnosed, 29, or 80 percent, are male, and there are already 768 men who have had the disease in our country, 49.9 percent and 7 with a cumulative of 769, or 50 percent are female. 66.6 percent of the positive cases were asymptomatic, that is, of the 36 yesterday, 24 were asymptomatic. This brings the total to 673, which represents 43.8% of confirmed cases. Of the total 36 cases diagnosed, the age groups most affected were those between 40 and 60 years of age with 44.4 percent of the diagnosed cases, and those over 60 years of age with 13 cases, 36.1 percent. The most representative provinces are Havana with 29 cases (80.5%), Matanzas and Sancti Spiritus with 3 cases each, and Villa Clara with one case. Y Villa Clara
10:29 Con relación a los 1537 Of the 1537 patients diagnosed in our country, 747 show a stable clinical evolution. This figure is 98.7 percent of the patients diagnosed, without taking into account the deceased and those who have been evacuated, We can say that 98.7 have a stable clinical evolution. Two people were evacuated as I said before. With the three dead today, we regret that 64 people have died. That gives a lethality of 4.16% of confirmed cases, similar to previous days
And already today there are a total of 714 pe ople who have had the disease and who are discharged, 33 of them yesterday. That gives a 94.3 percent of active cases, I reiterate, removing the part of the dead and of the evacuees, who are already discharged in our country, from the total of confirmed cases. In terms of the patients in critical and serious condition, today, the figures remain the same, because there are six critical patients and four serious ones. Seis pacientes criticos y cuatro grave 12:04
We can say that until 12 o'clock at night in Havana, remember that all the information I give corresponds to the 12 o'clock cut-off time, there were 2897 patients admitted to the hospitals of our country. In surveillance 30, suspects 2110, and confirmed 757. 3892 cases are being monitored by Primary health care. With regard to migratory movements in our country, there are 11,300 visitors, of whom 6711 are emigrants and 4590 foreigners. A similar number of foreigners staying in rented accommodation remains practically unchanged, and are mainly to be found in Santiago de Cuba Centro Habana, Plaza, and Playa in Havana province. We said that the lethality in Cuba has been at 4.1 and there are actually a significant number of countries in the Americas region that have very high rates. The most significant ones, as we said yesterday, are Barbados and Bahamas with13.8, Guyana 10.3, Antigua and Barbuda 12.5, Suriname 10, United States 5.86, Brazil 6.99, Canada 5.81, Mexico 9.63 In short, of the 35 countries in the region, 12 have a fatality rate above the average rate for the Americas
1619 El mundo convulse….. Today it is still present in 183 countries of the world with the presence of the COVID19 and the figure of 3 130 800 confirmed cases. In just one day, 78,430 were confirmed and, worse still or more significantly, 227,051 have died. In just one day 10, 488 and a rate and lethality of 7.25%, higher than yesterday. The region of the Americas also has very alarming figures, with a total of 1,293,607 confirmed cases, 41,006 in a single day, 41.32% of the total number of reported cases in the world and a total of 74,591 deaths. 3,500 6 deaths in a single day, with a lethality of 5.7 percent. Yesterday we saw some pictures published in Russia today. We saw a field that has been removed and many many bodies in their coffins, placed side by side, belonging to the State of Amazonas in Brazil whose capital in Manaus where the figure is very is very alarming.
Good morning to you, and to all those who tune in every morning. We start our briefing conveying our condolences to three families and groups of friends for the death of three people’s yesterday. The first deceased is a 73 old female patient who died at the Frank Pais Hospital here in Havana, she was from Old Havana municipality. She had a history of heart insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, a chronic lung obstruction disease, and a renal insufficiency Grade III. She was admitted during 8 days, five of them under intensive care, and despite all the efforts by our health workers, she had a cardiac respiratory arrest and passed away. The second is an 80-year-old female patient, also from Havana, from the Plaza de la Revolucion Municipality who died at the Salvador Allende Hospital, with a preexisting condition of an ischemic heart disease. After 16 days of hospitalization in intensive care, she was one of the patients who we had reported as critical, she passed away yesterday after an event of septic shock and other complications. We also regret the loss yesterday of a 95-year-old female patient also from Havana from La Lisa municipality with a history of high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus who had a very torpid evolution. She was admitted for a few days and her condition worsened as of April 26 and passed away yesterday. These are the three deaths we are reporting from yesterday, which we regret and we reiterate our condolences. At this moment, we have 2954 patients admitted in our hospitals. 40 are under surveillance, 2157 are suspected cases and 757 are confirmed cases. In the primary health care system in the communities 6972 people remain under observation. Yesterday 2003 samples were studied to diagnose the presence of SARS-cov-2 and the COVID-19 disease At the laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute 1296 samples were studied, a great effort by the staff of this lab, and also of the other units. In the molecular biology in Villa Clara 273, In Havana, 198, In Santiago de Cuba 94, at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology 94, and at the Brothers Ameijeiras laboratory 58 samples. Of them 34 tested positive. And here, allow me to clarify something. When I say that the samples were studied yesterday, some people said that the processing time of the samples should have started earlier. What I am reporting here are the results of the samples as they were studied on the day. In some cases, the samples were collected the day before yesterday. But, I am referring to the results that were obtained and reported yesterday. As I said 34 samples tested positive, and this represents 1.7% of the 2003 samples studied. At some point we were reported a 2.6% of positive results of the samples studied So, up to now Cuba already accumulates 47,344 samples and 1,501 have tested positive. This represents the 3,2% of the processed samples. Of the 34 new cases confirmed all were Cubans. 29, that is, 85,2% of them were contacts of confirmed cases and 5, that is 15%, the source of infection is being investigated. As you can notice, the number of asymptomatic patients varies and that makes healthcare personnel who work on this to feel uncomfortable as we cannot trace back to the source from whom the person got the virus, and then we continue investigating to see if we can trace back the source of contagion. Last night we made a cut on the amount of people who had tested positive while asymptomatic and there were 198, and after the back tracing, that amount was reduced to 52. So when we say here that the source of the infection has not been established, it means that up to the moment where we disclose the data it has not been established, but the investigation goes on, in an attempt to discover all the sources of infection that might be out there. Yesterday, the largest number of positive cases were male, with 52,9%, and 67,6%, were asymptomatic. Dr. Georgina was asking me to clarify this, since many people have expressed doubts, because asymptomatic cases are high risk patients, an any one of us who has not complied with the protection measure can be an asymptomatic case. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that a person, because he or she has been exposed is kept under surveillance. The asymptomatic cases appear during studies where risk groups are prioritized, but other people are studied as well. Regarding their distribution per provinces, the province of Havana has the most with 18 cases, 52,9% of the cases diagnosed yesterday and Matanzas has 10, 29,4%
By age groups, the age groups with the most cases yesterday were the one from 20 to 39 years of age with 11 cases and above all the group from 40 to 59 years with 16, with 47,1%. And as we always say, to measure risks, one has to follow the positive rate per 100 thousand inhabitants. Notwithstanding the confirmations reported in Havana, the special municipality of the Isle of Youth stands with the highest rate with 47,6%, Havana is at the second place with a 30,5 % rate, Villa Clara 24,3, Ciego de Avila 18,7, Matanzas 16,6, Sancti Spiritus 13,1, Mayabeque 11,7, Pinar del Rio 8,6, Holguin 8,3, Artemisa 6, and Cienfuegos 5,8 per 100 thousand inhabitants. The rate of the rest of the provinces remain below 5%, and we would like to stress that those with the least cases is Granma with 1,2, Las Tunas with 2,8, Guantanamo with 3,1, Santiago with 4,8 and Camaguey with 4,9. Of course, in no way this means that these provinces are exempted from the risks of the disease. Of the 1501 patients diagnosed with COVID19, 747 that are admitted to hospitals have stable clinical evolution. When we add this number, to those who have not died or not being evacuate, this means that 98,7% of confirmed cases in Cuba have a stable clinical evolution. Since the outbreak began we grieve the cumulative loss of 61 people which represents a lethality of 4.1%. As I have explained, lethality is calculated by the number of people deceased divided by the overall number of cases that have tested positive. In this case, in the region of the America Cuba ranks 12th, since there is a number of countries that have less fatalities. The lethality of the region of the Americas is 5.7%, that is, of every 100 people who get infected with COVID 19 in the region, roughly 6 people die. As I said, Cuba has a lethality of 4,1 and stands at the 12th place of the overall ranking of the region. There are countries with very high lethality rate like Barbados, Bahamas, with 13,8 each, Guyana with 17,3, Antigua and Barbuda with 12,5, the United States with 5,76, Brazil 6,98, Canada 5.72, Mexico 9,37 and Honduras,
Today in our country, 6 patients remain in critical condition, and 4 in serious condition. Minuto Today in Cuba the amount of visitors and foreigners does not change much, there 11 457 visitors, 6728 Cubans who reside abroad and, 4729 are foreigners In rental houses 947 foreigners concentrated in the municipalities of Santiago de Cuba, Centro Habana, Plaza and Playa Turning now to the international situation, despite the lapse of time in which the pandemic has been spreading, the world still reports 183 countries reporting positive cases of Covid19. 3 052 370 confirmed cases, 69 682 cases more than the day before. You can draw you conclusion of the amount of people getting infected every day, and what is worse, the amount of people dying in only one day: 6 370 for a cumulative total of 216 563 fatalities in the world, for a lethality of 7, 09 %. The region of the Americas is not doing well either, this morning I was watching some images from Brazil. Not only the images, but also the attitude from some government that sometimes they obstruct the control. And the region of the Americas reports 1 252 601 confirmed cases, 37 496 more than the day before. The region of the America accounts for 41,04% of the total of cases reported in the world. In one day only, the region reported the death of 3216 people, for a cumulative of 71 085 fatalities for a lethality of 5,67%.
And with this we wrap all the information that we had to offer you today
In our country, yesterday 1836 samples were studied to diagnose the
presence of SARS-cov-2 and the COVID-19 disease
At the laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute 872
samples were studied, in the molecular biology laboratory of Havana
281, in Villa Clara 264, In Santiago de Cuba 209 , at the Brothers
Ameijeiras laboratory 116, and at the Center for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology 94 for a total of 1, 836 samples. Of them, 1,7%
tested positive, that is 30 samples. This number is lower than the one
reported yesterday.
At this moment Cuba already accumulates 45,344 samples and 1467 have
tested positive. This represents the 3,2% of the processed samples.
Of the 30 new cases confirmed all were Cubans. 23, that is, 76,6% of
them were contacts of confirmed cases and 23,4%, that is 7, the
source of infection is being investigated.
Of the 30, 19 are male, that is 63,3% and 36.7% that is 11 people did
not show any symptom of the disease.
Regarding their distribution per provinces, 25, that is 83,3% are from
the province of Havana. This has been going on for some time now, that
the most cases are from the capital, followed by Matanzas with 3,
Holguin and Santiago de Cuba with one case each.
By age groups, the age group of those who tested positive is as
follows: From 1 to 19 years of age there were five cases, in the age
group between 20 and 29 years with 10, that is the 33.3%, from 40 to
59 years there were 7, and from 60 years and more, there were 6. The
largest number of cases is in the group ranging from 40 to over 60
years of age.
Of the 1467 patients diagnosed with COVID19, 98.3 % that are admitted
to hospitals have stable clinical evolution, and referring to those
who are still hospitalized.
Since the outbreak began we grieve the cumulative loss of 58 people
which represents a lethality of 4%
Two evacuees that we always mention and there are 617 people who
tested positive who have been discharged from hospitals. This
represents 43,8% of all the patients diagnosed on the island.
Yesterday, 42 people were discharged.
Today in Cuba there 11 525 visitors, 6758 Cubans who reside abroad
and, 4767 are foreigners
In rental houses there are no changes a similar figure concentrated in
the municipalities of Santiago de Cuba, Centro Habana, Plaza and Playa
The number of patients admitted to hospitals we now have 3,368
patients. 54 patients are under surveillance, 2224 are suspected
cases and 790 are confirmed cases. At the Primary healthcare level, we
have 6,839 under observation.
Turning now to the international situation, the number of countries
reporting transmission of the disease remain the same, 183 countries.
There is a total of 2 982 688 confirmed cases, 66 350 more than the
day before.
210 193 fatalities, with 4 270 deaths in one day, for a lethality of 7,05%.
The region of the Americas, confirms 1 215 105 confirmed cases, 32 672
more than yesterday. This accounts for 40.7% of the cumulative number
of confirmed cases in the world.
67, 869 fatalities, 2,117 deaths more than the day before, for a
lethality of a 5,58%.
I would like to recall that in our country, according to our figure of
confirmed cases, the provinces with the highest positive rate remains
unchanged, The Special municipality of the Isle of Youth ranks first,
with 46,4, Havana in second place with 29,6, Villa Clara with 24, 3
rate per 100 thousand inhabitants, followed by Ciego de Avila with
18,7, Matanzas 15,2, Sancti Spiritus 13,1, Mayabeque 11,7, Pinar del
Rio 8,6, Holguin, 8, 3, Artemisa 6, and Cienfuegos 5,3. The rest of
the provinces have positive rates below 5.
This is the situation of Cuba and of the world
Granma
Some experts speak of silent hypoxia to refer to patients who did not
report breathing problems, even though the chest X-rays showed
advanced pneumonia. Can there be patients who, despite having a low
level of oxygenation, are not aware of it?
Yes, this has been identified in this disease…. which has as a
characteristic symptom a pneumonia that has been initially detected
with a group of symptoms typical of pneumonia that are easy to detect
because they are similar to other pneumonias caused by other bacteria,
by other viruses.
Both in China and in other places, including the United States,
specialists detected that there was a group of patients, whose
condition aggravated and even increased the possibility of death, and
yet, they did not have symptoms, from the respiratory point of view,
to identify the disease. There are anecdotes of other patients
admitted for other diseases, diabetes, fainting, accidents that were
studied and were seen to have the COVID 19 and yet, none of them
presented respiratory difficulty characteristic of a pneumonia. As of
this moment it began to be called the silent pneumonia... 20:56
21:38 there were patients with low oxygen levels, and while talking
with them this situation was detected by devices for this control,
however, they talked as if they did not feel anything. How is this
problem solved? There is a medical device called the pulse oximeter,
which we have in our country and many people who have been in
intensive care know how it works, it is a device that you put on the
person´s finger and it measures the oxygen levels that person has.
Already knowing that in pneumonia caused by SARS-COV2 , and COVID19
disease, in which the low presence of oxygen can occur, the patient is
placed the oximeter, to identify this situation. 23:05 para
identificar esta situación. 23:05
Reuters, United Kingdom
It is known that the Cuban health system normally provides and
implements vaccination campaigns and vector eradication at no cost. In
the framework of the COVID confrontation, medicines have been given to
the people, such as prevengovir, free of charge. When else has the
Cuban government given free medicines to the population in an
emergency situation?
Perhaps some are very young and do not remember, but I remember when
the epidemic neuropathy, there was a free distribution of the
medication polivit that was manufactured at that time.
In our country, the medicines required by the people who are admitted
are free, the immunization program that I have referred to many times
here is totally free for all our population in any corner of the
country.
Referring to emergency situations, I remember when we had the cholera
outbreak, at that time there was a preventive medicine that protected
against cholera, which was also given to the population for free, and
like this other one with COVID, there are some immunization processes
and others that are being carried out to improve the person's
immunity, and that if he acquires the virus, his body will respond in
an efficient manner and that all of this applies to our entire
population for free.
On the other hand, we must recognize that the medicines that are sold
in the country in the pharmacy network, when one compares them with
the prices that they have in other parts of the world, one realizes
that they are affordable for our population, they are cheaper than
anywhere else in the world. That is what you buy, and for free, in
emergency situations, the ones that are necessary to improve the
health and the quality of life of our population.
In our country the situation remains similar in terms of the presence of visitors, 11 530 of which 6759 Cubans who reside abroad and, 4700 are foreigners In rental houses there are no changes, there are 946 foreigners, in the municipalities that we mention every day. The number of patients admitted to hospitals we now have 3,330 patients. 53 patients are under surveillance, 2475 are suspected cases and 802 are confirmed cases. At the Primary healthcare level, we have 6,742 under observation.
To detect the presence of Sars-cov2 virus and of the COVID-19 disease, yesterday our laboratories processed 1859 samples from different patients. At laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute 580 samples were studied, in Santiago de Cuba molecular biology laboratory 383, at the Brothers Ameijeiras laboratory 377, at Villa Clara laboratory 329, 188 at the Provincial Laboratory in Havana. As a result of these tests 48 samples tested positive yesterday, for a 2,6 of the samples studied. At this moment Cuba already accumulates 43,508 samples and 1437 have tested positive. This represents the 3,3% of the processed samples. Of the 48 new cases confirmed all were Cubans. 33, that is, 68,7% of them were contacts of confirmed cases and 15, 31,2% the source of infection could not be traced. Of the 48, 24 are female, and 24 are male, and 58,3%, that is 28 people did not show any symptom of the disease., and we reiterate the importance of the screening, which we work on a daily basis. Of the diagnosed cases, 26 are from the province of Havana in 11 municipalities. En 11 municipios 8:15
9:41 Por grupos de edad The age group of those who tested positive is as follows: Younger than 1-year-old, there was none. From 1 to 19 years of age there were 7, the largest number was in the age group between 20 and 29 years with 15 cases, from 40 to 59 years there were 14, and from 60 years and more, there were 12 confirmed cases yesterday. When taking a look at the infection rate per 100 thousand inhabitants, the special municipality of the Isle of Youth remains with a positive rate of 46,4 per 100 thousand inhabitants, followed by Havana with 28,4 per 100 thousand inhabitants, Villa Clara with 24,3, Ciego de Avila 18,7, Matanzas 14,8 Sancti Spiritus 13,1, Mayabeque 11,7, Pinar del Rio 8.6, Holguin 8,2 , Artemisa 6 per 100 thousand inhabitants, and the remainder of the provinces are below 6 per 100 thousand inhabitants. Of the 1437 patients diagnosed with COVID19, 790 show a stable clinical evolution, that is 55% of the patients who are hospitalized who have tested positive We grieve the cumulative loss of 58 people which represents a lethality of 4% Two evacuees that we always mention and of the 1437 diagnosed people, 575 people have been discharged from hospitals. 50 people more yesterday. This represents 40% of all the patients diagnosed on the island. This is the situation we have report about our country. Although we are dissatisfied with our lethality rate, because we work very hard not to lose any patient, despite the associated pathologies they may present, we can say that in the region of the Americas, the average lethality is of 5,56 % and there are 12 countries whose lethality is higher than that.
Turning now to the international situation, the number of countries reporting transmission of the disease remain the same, 183 countries. There is a total of 2 916 500 confirmed cases, 71 795 more than the day before. In terms of the death toll, 4 608 died yesterday, for a cumulative total of 205 923 fatalities, for a lethality of 7,06%. The region of the Americas, confirms 1 182 433 cases, 47 747 more than yesterday. This accounts for 40.5 % of the number of cases in the world. The region also accumulates 65, 752 fatalities, 2,103 deaths more than the day before, for a lethality of a 5,56%. This is the situation of Cuba and of the world that we had to offer to our population.
To detect the presence of COVID-19, yesterday our laboratories processed 1823 samples of which 20 tested positive. This represents 1,9% of the studied samples, a number much lower than those reported on previous days. At laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute 849 samples were studied, 600 at the provincial center of Epidemiology and Hygiene from Villa Clara, 191 at the Provincial Laboratory in Havana, in Santiago de Cuba laboratory 183. These tests allowed the diagnoses of the 20 new cases. At this moment Cuba already accumulates 41,651 samples and 1389 have tested positive. This represents the 3,3% of the processed samples. Of the 20 new cases confirmed all were Cubans. 19, that is, 95% of them were contacts of confirmed cases and in 1 case, we are studying the source of contagion. Of the 20 new cases, 9 are female, 55 % were male, and 65%, 13 of the 20 confirmed cases were asymptomatic. The age group with the most cases is the one from younger than 40 years, with 10 cases, followed by the age group of 40 to 60 years , with 9 cases which is the 45%. The province of Havana has the most cases with 14 cases, 70%, and Matanzas with three cases.
Of the 1389 patients diagnosed with COVID19, the 57,2%, that is 794 show a stable clinical evolution. We grieve the loss of 56 people, as I said earlier, 2 more deaths reported today. Two evacuees, and 525 people have been discharged from hospitals. 24 people more than the day before. These 525 discharges represent 37,8% of all the patients diagnosed on the island. Minute Ya estan dados de alta 10:19
We are reporting in Intensive Care Wards a total of 12 confirmed patients, 6 in critical condition and six in serious condition, these are the same patients that we reported were in this condition yesterday. 11:51 se mantienen los mismos
we have 5 in serious condition, one more than yesterday 10:36 uno más que el dia de ayer.m
19:12 Hasta las 12 de la noche del dia de ayer
As of 12 midnights a country was added to the list of those with transmission of Covid-19, which was Western Sahara, so now there are 183 countries. There is a total of 2 844 712 confirmed cases, we are practically reaching three million. In one day 99,968 cases were confirmed. In terms of the death toll, 5 298 died yesterday, for a cumulative total of 201 315 fatalities, for a lethality of 7,07. The region of the Americas, confirms in a one day 62, 006 confirmed cases, 1 134 686 cases and the region accounts for 39.08 % of the number of cases in the world. The region also accumulates 63, 649 fatalities, 2,897 deaths more than the day before, for lethality of a 5,62%,.
Desde el punto de vista de la situación de nuestro país Turning now to the situation in our country 6759 Cubans who reside abroad are on the island, and 4,784 foreigners, for a total of 11543 visitors. There aren’t much changes of the number of foreigners staying in rental houses, and the municipalities where they are which reiterate every day. A total of 3,461 patients have been admitted in our hospitals. 57 patients are under surveillance, 2592 are suspected cases and 812are confirmed cases. At the Primary healthcare level, we have 5,876 people under observation. These are people who have been exposed to certain risks and these even include patients who have been discharged from hospitals, who spend 2 more weeks under observation. Yesterday, our laboratories processed 1837 samples for the detection of COVID19, of which 829 were at laboratory of the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute, 349 at the provincial center of Epidemiology and Hygiene from Villa Clara, in Santiago de Cuba laboratory 283, , 252 at the Provincial Laboratory in Havana, in Havana Civil Defense´s lab 3, in the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center 67, and at the Molecular Biology lab from the Brothers Ameijeiras Hospital, 121. As a result of the study, 32 patients were diagnosed with SARs-Cov-2. This represents the 1,74%% of the of the studied samples, lower than yesterday y. Cuba already has 39 ,828 samples, and 1,369 have tested positive. This represents the 3,4% of the processed samples. Of the 32 new cases confirmed all were Cubans. 28, that is, 87,5% were contacts of confirmed cases and in 4, 12,5% the source of infection could not be established. On this particular subject of the asymptomatic cases, I would like to reiterate the need of when asked, people should disclose the largest number of people than they have been in contact with, because this is a high risk group of people, which our health system needs to observe to detect or discard that its members have the disease. 22 of the new 32 cases were female, that is 68,7 % and 37,5% that is , 12 of the 32 were asymptomatic, this are the people we look for in the high-risk groups. The age group with the most cases is the one from 40 to 60 years of age with 16 cases, 50% followed by the age group of 20 to 39 years with 12 cases which is the 37,5% and the group of over 60 years of age, with 4 cases, which is 12,5 % The province of Havana has the most cases with 18 cases, that is 56,2% and Matanzas with 7 cases with 21,8%.
And here, I would like to comment on the positive rate by provinces, which is estimated per every 100 thousand inhabitants. We know that taking into consideration and the number of cases reported by the Special Municipality of the Isle of Youth, it is reiterated as the territory with the highest positive rate in the country. However, Havana, which used to be in the 4th and third place, it is currently on the 2nd place with 26,6% rate per 100 thousand inhabitants. Villa Clara with 24,3; Ciego de Avila 18,7, Matanzas, with 13,2, Sancti Spiritus 12,9, Mayabeque 11,7; Pinar del Rio 8,2; Holguin 7,7%, and Artemisa with 5,2%. These are the provinces with a positive rate higher than 5 percent por encima de cinco en estos casos 13:27 14:26 En relación con la situación internacional With respect to the international situation, our population is well informed through the media. What we can do is reiterate that this disease continues spreading, despite the measures than have been implemented 182 countries remain with the presence of COVID-19 with a cumulative total of 2 744 744 confirmed cases, almost reaching the three million mark. 76 609 new cases were confirmed in a single day, and what is worse, 5 151people died for a total of 195 387 deaths, for a lethality of 7,12%.
The region of the Americas reports 1 072 680 confirmed cases, 30,155 more than yesterday. And the cases of the region accounts for 39.078% of the total number of cases in the world. With cumulative total of fatalities of 60 752 fatalities, 1835 more deaths a for a lethality of 5,66%.
This is the summary of the national and international situation regarding the COVID19 pandemic.
Cuba produces Kaletra, a drug to treat COVID-19 The antiretroviral Kaletra, successful in curing cases of COVID-19, is being used in the Cuban treatment protocol. It is producted in Cuba by the company MedSol Laboratories. Adalberto Izquierdo Castro, head of the research and development group of the Novatec Base Business Unit, belonging to MedSol, explained that the Ministry of Public Health gave them the task of immediately developing the product in order to eliminate imports. Kaletra is currently in the development stage and three pilot batches have already been made. The physical-chemical analysis is being carried out and then the comparison with the leading product will be made so that with the results obtained it will be registered at the Center for State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medica Devices. Izquierdo Castro said he was pleased that the medicine could be produced in the country because, in addition to the fact that it would not have to be imported, an action that is becoming more complex with the worsening of the U.S. blockade and financial problems, the cost of production would be much cheaper. And, in the long term, it could even be exported to other countries.
Cuba adds convalescent plasma as part of its treatments to save COVID-19 patients Cuba has started to collect blood donations from COVID-19 convalescents for the processing of hyperimmune plasma to treat cases in critical and serious condition. Speaking at the daily media briefing on the situation of the pandemic in the country, Dr. Francisco Duran, Chief of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, said that the provinces of Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Matanzas and Ciego de Avila are already working on the plan and that Camaguey is to be added soon. Convalescents of COVID-19 willing to donate their blood must be immunocompetent people, have completed the required recovery time of not less than 21 days, and be physically and emotionally fit. The plasma removed from the blood of a person who has recovered from a disease, then is transfused into a patient still battling it. The expert said that the medical procedure is being applied in other countries of the world and that after the collection of 17 donations in the country, the plasma is being applied as part of the new coronavirus treatment protocols on the island with encouraging results. Dr. Duran recalled that this practice was used during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. According to other sources, the practice goes as far back as the Spanish Flu of 1918. More recently, the procedure has been used in patients with SARS, H1N1, and more. For more details on Saturday media briefing update on COVID-19 go below. Greater organization required for success in fight against COVID-19 In the meeting to review the battle against COVID-19, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz agreed in emphasizing that organization, in the most diverse aspects, is a vital principle in the current scenario that the country is living, confronting the COVID-19 virus. Following this line of action, Diaz-Canel called to continue working and attending, with demand and much detail, the organization of the different institutions where people are being treated, whether they are patients confirmed to have COVID-19, contacts or suspects. The Cuban president insisted on the priority that should be given to the work of epidemiology specialists in all places, "so that they can guide the ways in which both health personnel and patients behave." The use of nasobucos (face masks) in hospitals is obligatory, he said, as is the adequate protection of the health personnel who work there. This is the time to work on even the smallest organizational aspect," he said, "which will allow us to adequately deal with the most complex days of the pandemic." When talking about organization, President Díaz-Canel's words also made it unavoidable to take up the issue of queues, resellers and hoarders. It is very difficult -- he pointed out -- to say that we are not going to sell anything, just as we cannot take all the products to the bodegas, as many people have been requesting. That is why the issue is to finish organizing the queues; and it is an aspect that has much to do with the organization in the establishments themselves, but fundamentally with the people who come to them and the way they behave. "We have to overcome that with discipline," said the Cuban president. Residents return to U.S. after weeks stranded in Cuba by coronavirus
Residents and citizens of the United States were repatriated from Cuba after being stranded for several weeks due to the closure of the island's borders since early April because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report by Reuters news service. The charter flights, operated by Delta Airlines, were coordinated by the U.S. embassy in Havana, which did not specify the number of travelers who took the planes to Miami, Florida. According to Cuba's Health Ministry, some 5,000 foreigners not residing on the island and 7,000 Cuban immigrants remained in the country trapped by the measures taken to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. "The relief of being able to leave is great. The feeling that I didn't have any health problems, not even at work (Baxley, Georgia), decreased the stress and I used that energy to help my family," said Rodolfo Díaz, a Cuban-American engineer who lives in Georgia. Díaz, 45-years-old, had traveled to Havana on March 14th because of the illness of his mother, who died on April 1st. Among the travelers were Cubans residing in the United States who originally feared they would not be able to return because of the Cuban government's ban on citizens with legal rights even in Cuba from leaving the island, but they eventually obtained permits from the immigration office. However, not all Cubans living in the United States have met the same fate. For example, Ariel Ramirez, who visited his family in the eastern province of Holguin, said he had not been included in either of Delta's flights. Passengers will have to pay for their tickets to the United States. "Economically, I am in a bad way because the money I brought with me ran out and I was not prepared to be stranded in Cuba," Ramírez, who lives in Las Vegas and had arrived in Havana on March 16th. Since late March, the Cuban government has implemented severe measures to contain the virus, such as prohibiting the entry and exit of travelers and boats, closing schools and paralyzing public transportation.
Of the 1337 patients diagnosed with COVID19 as of today, 836 show a stable clinical evolution. We grieve the loss of 51 people, as I said earlier. 2 more reported today. Two evacuees, and 437 people have been discharged from hospitals. 21 people more than the day before. We are reporting 6 patients in critical condition and we have 5 in serious condition, one more than yesterday
Cuban foreign minister highlights work of health professionals in battle against COVID-19
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez evoked the thoughts of José Martí, 'Patria es Humanidad' (Homeland is Humanity), to highlight the efforts of doctors and nurses in the fight against COVID-19 in Cuba and other countries.
"Under that maxim of Jose Marti, our health professionals defend medical care, the well-being of the peoples and life from different corners of the world," the Cuban foreign minister published on his Twitter social network account.
Also this Friday, in a previous tweet, Bruno Rodriguez pointed out that humanity demands an effective solution to the COVID-19, a pandemic that affects a large part of the world. He stressed that this is a crisis of multiple and devastating effects not only in the field of health, but also in the economy, international trade and society.
The top Cuban diplomat called for joining international efforts in the fight against the pandemic and stressed that "Together we can do it."
Cuba expresses appreciation for Chinese donation of medical supplies
Ana Teresita Gonzalez, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, on behalf of the Cuban people and government, expressed appreciation for the donation by China of medical supplies to confront the new coronavirus pandemic.
In an exchange at the Foreign Ministry's headquarters with the Asian nation's ambassador in Havana, Chen Xi, the two diplomats discussed the close ties of cooperation, aid and collaboration that exist between the two countries.
"I had another meeting with the Ambassador of #China in #Cuba, comrade Chen Xi. We exchanged on the cooperation between both countries for the confrontation to #COVID19.
"I thanked him, once again, for the donations to our country from the Chinese government and companies for this battle," Gonzalez wrote in her official Twitter account.
On Friday, a plane carrying medical supplies purchased in China arrived in Havana, with the aim of strengthening the capacities of the Cuban health system in the face of the confrontation with COVID-19.
The aircraft was loaded with items such as masks, protective suits, diagnostic kits and also sample transport devices, the latter indispensable from the point of view of clinical management of the disease.