Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda.

Havana, March 25 (RHC)-- Cuban Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal Miranda denounced Thursday that the U.S. government has tried to hinder Cuba's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, with the extreme tightening of the blockade and the imposition of numerous extraterritorial sanctions.

Speaking at the virtual conference "Cuba for Life: experiences in confronting COVID-19", organized by the Sao Paulo Forum, the minister pointed out that Washington deliberately deprived the Cuban people of pulmonary ventilators, personal protection equipment, diagnostic means, and other supplies necessary for the management of the pandemic.

"These U.S. restrictions are in addition to many others that for years have prevented the country from acquiring equipment and supplies for the treatment of complex diseases that affect even children, and that on many occasions compromise their lives at a very early age," Portal Miranda added.

"The accumulated damages during almost six decades of application of this policy exceed 3 272 million dollars to this sector," he stated.

Notwithstanding the siege's tightening, Portal Miranda pointed out that the island has managed to produce five anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidates, two of them in Phase III clinical trials (Soberana 02 and Abdala) .

\The minister recalled that in terms of solidarity, 57 Cuban medical brigades belonging to the International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics 'Henry Reeve' have helped other countries control the pandemic.

The Minister of Public Health pointed out that "nothing and nobody will prevent Cuba from continuing its solidarity work; neither the unjust e blockade nor its constant attempts to tarnish and hinder Cuban medical cooperation."