Havana, March 27 (RHC)-- The Minister of Public Health José Angel Portal Miranda announced Friday that "the first local transmission event in the country of COVID-19 was reported in the municipality of Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas.

According to a report aired during the Round Table TV and radio program this evening, the event is related to one of the cases diagnosed last March 21.   The patient is a hotel manager at Memories Hotel in Varadero, whose source of infection was a group of Italian tourists.

From this patient, 53 contacts were identified, who were isolated and put under epidemiological surveillance.  In recent days, four family members and one friend tested positive for COVID-19.

Taking into account this particular situation, Portal Miranda insisted on the importance of making people aware of the fact that if they present any kind of symptoms it is necessary to inform and isolate them immediately from their families and friends.