Havana, July 9 (RHC)-- At the meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of COVID-19 -- led daily by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz -- Deputy Governor Yanet Hernández Pérez said that two events of local transmission of the disease remain open in Havana: one in Centro Habana and another in Cerro. In the latter, a new case was confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total to 20.
Hernández Pérez said that Havana continues to meet the five indicators stipulated by the Ministry of Public Health to remain in the first phase of recovery, relating to the incidence rate, the reproductive index, the number of active cases, those positive with a known source of infection in the last 15 days, and the open events.
When asked about the first phase of the recovery and, particularly, about the operation of public transportation in the capital, the prime minister commented that several opinions had been received from the population about the overcrowding of some buses, and indicated that he would review the amount of transportation being provided, how it is being done, and whether the hygienic-sanitary measures are being complied with. He said that "we have called for opening up the economy, and there is a very important level of the population that is transported to work by public busses."
Díaz-Canel Bermúdez considered that the directors of the work centers have to act with a certain flexibility. If transportation is limited, he said, they have to stagger the arrival times, because everyone will not be able to be there at the same time. That is asking people to do something that cannot be guaranteed now.
Transportion Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila said that in recent days there has been systematic monitoring of public transport in Havana. He assured that inspectors, police and officials of the sector have been placed in the more than 300 stops of the capital to demand the fulfillment of the measures established for this first phase, such as the obligatory use of nasobucos (facemasks) and the occupation of 100 % of the passengers seated and 50 % standing.
