The increase in positive cases to Covid-19 in recent days in Cuba has gone from being low numbers and two figures, to exceeding 450 daily in recent days. The increase has been very fast, even more than with previous variants like the Delta.
Everything seems to indicate that it is due to the high contagiousness of Ómicron, which is diffused on a large scale throughout Europe and, above all, the United States is currently experiencing the highest records of the pandemic.
The opening of the Cuban borders on November 15 has caused flights to gradually diversify and increase.
The Cuban authorities also relaxed the measures for travelers upon arrival, for which reason the quarantine in isolation centers and hotels stopped being implemented, not at this time, specifically, for those arriving from certain countries in Africa and Europe.
In general, economic and social life experienced a revival, cultural centers opened to the public, bars and restaurants resumed service in their premises in addition to the home delivery, which was already being promoted.
Cuba reopened its borders not two months ago thanks to the mass vaccination campaign that drastically dropped the cases of Covid-19, however, currently Ómicron tries to disturb our national tranquility.
For this reason, the booster vaccine had a great push, more than 2 million doses have been applied, although it is not strange that vaccines prevent serious disease processes but not contagion, so having already four dose can not be the excuse to ignore the disease, and act in daily life as if the pandemic had said goodbye, just as sadly is seen today in some bars throughout the island.
A matter of five days ago, before December 31, nearby alarms began to sound. A cousin who turned out to be positive for Covid-19, because she got sick from a friend who had gotten sick a few days before from another friend who had just arrived from abroad. Almost everyone who gathered on those days tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. They met in premises, at night, in the open air, but without distancing and the nasobuco without such priority.
The second alarm went off almost at the same time, but from different latitudes, from acquaintances, friends, relatives attacked with the situation facing the US, entire families infected, queues of almost two days to be able to get a PCR test, because many right now are sick with Covid-19, and on top of that, the press and the street ball have only created panic by claiming that the virus is already in the air and it is very difficult to escape from it.
The result is that we once again have the beginning of the year of extreme care as in 2021, if we do not want to revive regrowth, although luckily this variant seems to be less aggressive than the Delta that did take thousands of lives in our country. . With newcomers from abroad, you have to be careful, wait for symptoms to appear, because even the vaccination certificates and PCR test to be presented here can be sensitive to fraud.
Due to the importance for your knowledge, CubaSí once again shares with its readers the international sanitary control measures that the Ministry of Public Health announced this December 30 to apply as of January 5 to stop the increase in cases that we are already experiencing, with greater incidence in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Havana, Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
Measures that are maintained in the international sanitary control:
For travelers from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi and Eswatini.
It will be mandatory:
-Present a complete vaccination schedule at the point of entry.
-Show the negative result of an RT-PCR, carried out a maximum of 72 hours before the trip.
-At the point of entry, a sample will be taken to perform RT-PCR to SARS-CoV-2.
-They will carry out mandatory quarantine, for eight days, in a hotel destined for this purpose, the traveler himself assuming the costs of accommodation and transportation.
-On the seventh day a new sample will be taken which, if negative, will allow discharge from quarantine on the eighth day.
Measures that are incorporated for international sanitary control:
In the case of travelers from the rest of the world, whether or not they are residents of Cuba:
-It will be mandatory to present a complete vaccination schedule at the point of entry.
-It will be mandatory to show the negative result of an RT-PCR, carried out a maximum of 72 hours before the trip.
-Random surveillance will be increased, starting with the performance of RT-PCR at the border of travelers from high-risk countries.
In addition to the above measures, Cubans residing in the country who do not have a vaccination scheme, to enter the national territory, will be obliged to:
-A sample collection for SARS-CoV-2 PCR-RT at the point of entry.
– Comply with a mandatory quarantine, for eight days, in a hotel designated for this purpose, the traveler himself assuming the costs of accommodation and transportation.
-On the seventh day a new sample will be taken which, if negative, will allow discharge from quarantine on the eighth day.
All crew members and passengers of merchant vessels that intend to enter Cuba, and come from foreign ports, must present a complete vaccination scheme and, in addition, a PCR study will be carried out at the point of entry.
Aircraft and cruise ship crews staying less than 48 hours in the national territory will be exempt from these measures. In both cases they will have to present their complete vaccination schedule.
Passengers of cruise ships and pleasure boats, to enter the country will have to present an international certificate of vaccination against COVID-19.
Foreign travelers who arrive in Cuba and are part of the enrollment of international schools, scholarships in Cuban institutions, technicians and foreign collaborators who are housed, will carry out an eight-day quarantine in their respective centers, and a PCR-RT will be carried out on the seventh day of your arrival.
They will not require a complete vaccination schedule:
-Children up to 12 years old, of any nationality or origin.
-Adults who for medical reasons, and duly certified, cannot be vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved until today by the corresponding regulatory agencies.
Proposals for other measures within the country:
-Any traveler who arrives in Cuba and tests positive for COVID-19 will be admitted to the Health institutions designated for that purpose in each territory.
-All direct contacts of these travelers will be isolated in designated centers in each territory, or at home, provided that the necessary conditions exist and compliance with this measure is guaranteed.
-Confirmed autochthonous cases that are at risk, or the severity of their condition warrants it, will be admitted to Health institutions designated for that purpose. The rest may be brought into the home according to the conditions of each territory.
-Direct contacts of confirmed autochthonous cases will be isolated in their homes and, if necessary, they will do so institutionally, for eight days.
-Confirmed pregnant women and children under ten years of age will be isolated in health institutions designated for this purpose.
-The study of the first-order contacts of the confirmed cases will be done as soon as their contact status is known.
-To identify suspicious cases, the investigation of the population in all territories will be reorganized, prioritizing the areas of greatest risk.
-Taking into account the high transmissibility of the omicron variant and its presence in the country, there will be no massive activities that generate conglomerates of people. Small format activities will be maintained in compliance with the established sanitary measures.
-All the territories of the country will send the identified positive samples selected for sequencing to the national reference laboratory of the “Pedro Kourí” Institute of Tropical Medicine.
-Accelerate the application of booster doses throughout the country, in correspondence with the availability of existing vaccines.
