Havana, May 15 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz headed a new meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the new coronavirus, in which they ratified the relevance of the actions that have been implemented since the beginning of the year in Cuba to confront COVID-19 and minimize the risks of contagion.

After hearing the customary update on the national situation from the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, the Cuban president acknowledged the relevance of having isolated all the patients and their contacts, as well as the suspected cases, from the very first moments in the facilities set up for this purpose in the national territory.  This gave us the opportunity - he said - to identify a greater number of people and to cut off sources of contagion.

At this meeting, and taking into account the complex scenario that persists in Havana, where ten new positive cases were reported at the close of this Wednesday, the governor, Reinaldo Garcia Zapata, informed the country's leadership, through video-conference, about the actions that are being carried out in the province to guarantee the certification of the outbreaks and to maintain close surveillance in the eight transmission events that remain active.

García Zapata said that the application of measures designed to reinforce the social isolation of Old Havana has already begun in that area of the capital, which should help reduce possible sources of contagion.  As part of these decisions, he said that as of this Friday, only people who live in the municipality will be able to buy in area stores.