Foto: Irene Pérez/ Cubadebate.

Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- Cuban health authorities reported on Monday the highest number of cases of COVID-19 reported for a day since the beginning of the epidemic on the island on March 11 last year.

After testing some 10 thousand people on Sunday, 316 were diagnosed with Sars-Cov-2  in the network of 18 molecular biology laboratories working on the island.

According to the Public Ministry website,  3,433 patients were admitted for clinical, epidemiological surveillance, 659 suspected,  and 1,738 positive patients were hospitalized.

Of the 316 new cases, 172 were contacts of confirmed cases, 127 with a source of infection abroad, and 17 did not have a precise infection source.

The provinces with the most cases were Havana with 76, followed by Matanzas with 66, Villa Clara with 31,  and Santiago de Cuba with 22.

Cuban authorities have been adamant about the need for compliance with the hygiene measures to avert contagion with the disease and are taking in January additional measures with airline passengers coming from abroad,  the primary current contagion source in the country.

As of January 10, it will be mandatory for travelers arriving from abroad to have tested negative for Covid1-9 over the last 72 hours.