New Stage in Cuba before Covid-19

Havana, Cuba: Exactly seven months after the first case of Covid-19 was detected in the country, Cuba is today on the verge of a period of new normality in which it will have to live with this disease, Prensa Latina publishes.

The island’s strategy for the prevention and control of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was not something that emerged with the diagnosis, on March 11, of the first three patients, but had been prepared beforehand, the national authorities have explained.

However, this work period allowed for adjustments, based on scientific knowledge and accumulated experiences, which made possible favorable results in the management of the epidemic and led most of the Caribbean nation to move towards the new stage.

In the words of President Miguel Díaz-Canel on the television program Mesa Redonda, on October 8, the country is considering a strategy to live with the disease, while reviving economic and social activity, which is possible with a minimum risk if people act responsibly.

It is a period that will also demand a new behavior, individually and collectively, aware that the virus is constantly lurking, the president added.

It is about not relying solely on the benefits of a health system that in these seven months has treated one hundred percent of the 5,948 confirmed cases, as well as their contacts, without having collapsed the intensive care units; it is necessary to take care not to get sick.

The treatment protocols developed by Cuban experts and scientists demonstrate their effectiveness every day, but the specialists themselves warn about the possible consequences and the essential of complying with sanitary regulations to avoid contagion.

More than 700 investigations, 16 clinical trials underway with the use of 13 bio-products, and 52 medical brigades that collaborated with other countries during the pandemic, are also numbers that speak of the strengths with which the island is entering the new period .

Added to this is the existence of the Soberana 1 vaccine candidate and the possibility ?according to the president of the BioCubaFarma business group, Eduardo Martínez? that before the end of the year there will be another two being evaluated in humans.

However, these are not yet times of the desired physical embrace, Díaz-Canel said when explaining the characteristics of the moment that is coming, in which undoubtedly the hope that the number of people who have lost their lives (123) will not increase, will be largely in the attitude of each person.