Two years after the confirmation in Cuba of the first three positive patients in SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal, summarized today the country’s confrontation with the pandemic .
We had a difficult first year -of successes and failures in the face of ignorance of the virus-, in which we perfected prevention and care protocols, always thinking about the health of our people, Portal said, according to information published on the website of the Ministry of Health Public (MINSAP).
Under the title “Let’s not think only of the present, it is the responsibility of each one of us to think of tomorrow”, the minister pointed out that the political will of the Government, together with the tireless work of an entire country, made it possible to minimize in 2020 the damage of the SARS-CoV-2, and contain its transmission within a few months.
However, he recalled, the behavior of the disease in the world and the appearance of new variants of the virus caused a rebound in cases in the Antillean nation at the end of 2020, which led to an accelerated rise in infections in 2021 and kept in check to the Cuban health system for almost the entire year.
He specified that in 2021, August marked the worst figures, with 9,907 new infections on the 23rd, 50,930 patients admitted on the 24th, and the highest number of deaths for a single day: 98.
During those months, the country had to create new hospitalization capacities, given the large increase in patients that multiplied the challenges for the Public Health System.
The breakdown suffered by Cuba’s main oxygen-producing plant added tension to an already very complicated epidemiological scenario, the minister said.
In the text, he highlighted the effort and wisdom of many, which made it possible to overcome those difficult months and begin to experience a more favorable epidemiological situation in October.
The last two years have inevitably been marked by the pain of many losses, and that the Cuban family will never be able to forget, he maintained.
Likewise, he highlighted the work of the highest leadership of the Government, the agencies, the mass organizations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the efforts of health workers in the neighborhoods and medical institutions, the role of scientists, the support of young people, and of all the people.
He stressed that in the midst of confronting one of the most terrible epidemics experienced by humanity, and with many limitations of various kinds in Cuba, it was possible to develop five vaccine candidates, three of which became vaccines and two others continue their development.
He described as gigantic the effort of the health sector to successfully launch the largest immunization campaign undertaken by the country, which until this March 9 had allowed 95.1 percent (%) of the vaccinable population to complete their schedule, and 73% have their booster dose.
Vaccination, precisely, has been key to ensuring that fewer people reach intensive care units and die, in the face of the new peak of the epidemic caused by the omicron variant of the virus, Portal emphasized.
Despite the time that has elapsed, the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients continues to be a challenge for health professionals; and there are still several questions that remain about COVID-19 and its true effects, he said.
The behavior of the virus has shown that we are all sensitive to its contagion, he warned, and we cannot afford to leave the challenge of controlling the disease in the hands of science alone.
He pointed out that two years after the first patients in Cuba were confirmed, SARS-CoV-2 has caused the death of 8,503 people and 1,75,616 million cases have been diagnosed.
He also referred to the need to learn to live with the risks that COVID-19 implies, and the challenge of maintaining the operation of the main economic and service activities in the country.
Let’s not only think about the present, it is the responsibility of each one of us to think about tomorrow, which is to think about the future of the country. COVID-19 has left us many lessons, let’s use them wisely, he concluded.
