Havana, March 26 (RHC)-- If the school year was suspended in the current scenario, it was not to keep our children and youth on the streets; it was to keep them at home, said Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel. Leading the daily COVID-19 Council of Ministers working meeting on Wednesday, the head of state said that the risks of contagion must be minimized as much as possible, and he considered it vital to continue promoting social distancing. He also stressed the urgency of avoiding unnecessary meetings at workplaces, reports Granma newspaper. He said that these are times to seek for alternatives and promote ways of doing things differently, such as teleworking, even in the business sector, as long as work allows. Diaz-Canel called for thorough surveillance at airports for the detection of people with symptoms and guaranteeing operation of isolation centers that have been set up to quarantine Cuban nationals and foreign residents arriving in the country. Regarding the work in the communities, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, announced that some 3.5 million people had been surveyed, of which almost 32 thousand had been identified with respiratory symptoms, and nearly all have been attended to by the family doctor. "One of the main challenges for our health institutions and care areas is to ensure that the established protocol for carrying out investigations is followed everywhere," said Portal Miranda. He said that it is also fundamental to isolate in time those who are identified as contacts of people suspected of carrying the disease or of patients who have tested positive, Deputy Prime Minister, Roberto Morales Ojeda, stressed the importance of guaranteeing all the necessary protective gear to health personnel. Referring to the use of face masks, he stressed that not only health workers should use it but also the population." "Everyone who can use the face mask should do so," said the President of the Republic, that is another way to protect ourselves.