Havana, August 8 (RHC)-- During the daily press briefing held Saturday morning in Havana, the Cuban Minister of Public Health Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda joined Dr. Francisco Durán, National Director of Epidemiology of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

Dr. Portal Miranda urged the Cuban people, and especially residents of Havana and Artemisa provinces where coronavirus cases have been highest over the past week, to follow measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  The Cuban health minister warned that the coronavirus is extremely contagious and said that special measures must be taken to stop it.

For his part, Dr. Francisco Durán reported 59 new cases detected yesterday of COVID-19, for a total of 2,888 positive cases across the island.  The Cuban health official reiterated the warnings of the minister of health, stressing that people must be more disciplined in carrying out the health measures to confront COVID-19.

Dr. Durán said that over the past 24 hours -- up until 12 midnight Friday night -- fortunately, no patients died from the coronavirus.  A total of 88 patients have died in Cuba over the past several months.