Havana, June 18 (RHC)-- The President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, expressed his confidence that, because of the way in which we have worked in the country, we are in a position to move in all the provinces -- except for Havana and Matanzas -- to the first phase of the recovery stage of the disease and to advance, if we control it well, quite rapidly through the rest of the phases.

This is what the Head of State said at the meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the new coronavirus that he heads every afternoon with the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.  Through a video conference with all the governors and the mayor of the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, they analyzed the actions to be implemented from this Thursday, June 18th, when in 14 territories of the country the first phase of the recovery stage of COVID-19 will begin.

From the Palacio de la Revolucion, where Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa and all the deputy prime ministers were also present, Diaz-Canel also recognized the responsible way in which the two provinces have taken on the task in Havana and Matanzas, and stressed the need to intensify the work so that, in the shortest time possible, they can also enter the stage of recovery.

Faced with the new challenges that must be assumed, President Díaz-Canel insisted that the priority of saving lives that has been defended during the confrontation with the epidemic must not be lost.  "This means," he said, "that we cannot lose the results we have achieved.  You have to be able to start to relax restrictions that had to be applied and go back to normal life, coexisting with the disease."

On the contrary, we have to move forward to continue improving all the indicators, following the purpose we set for ourselves so that COVID-19 does not become an endemic, he said.

He emphasized the need for the measures proposed for the three phases to be rigorously controlled and implemented and for everything to be done well.  "Any mistake opens up a gap for the possibility of a comeback, so it's a matter of maintaining and consolidating the results we're having," he said.

He recalled that among the objectives of this new stage is to return to normal gradually and asymmetrically; to avoid a resurgence of the virus, and to continue working to reduce the risks and vulnerabilities, as a consequence of the disease in our population, and also in our economy and social life.

As essential elements that must be maintained at all times, he stressed the need to continue encouraging responsible, decent, disciplined and respectful behavior on the part of all Cubans.  "If you are asking for physical isolation," he said, "then let it become a habit of life, because that is the best way to respect each other.  It is not a whim, it is to avoid contagion, to avoid the spread of the disease."

In particular, on issues directly associated with the health sector, he explained that greater control and more precise monitoring of each case detected is required, which is a guarantee for the de-escalation process.

Hence its emphasis on treating each suspect from the outset as if he or she were a COVID-19 infected patient and on the priority with which the screening methods that have been developed in the country should be applied.

As working principles that are inevitable to maintain, Diaz-Canel defined, in the first place, savings, which must remain a premise.  Furthermore, it reiterated that the intention is to gradually reactivate economic and social activity in all sectors, both state and non-state, without giving up teleworking and distance working, wherever possible and not as an exception.

Among other priorities, he pointed out the assurances that must be taken into account in order to continue advancing in home services; in electronic commerce; in the opening of tourism, both national and international; in the incentive of new productions; as well as in the use of all the possibilities we have for exports.