Havana, April 4 (RHC)-- Cuba reported on Saturday 19 new cases of COVID-19, bringing to 288 the number of people diagnosed with the disease on the Caribbean island.

Of the confirmed cases, 18 are Cuban nationals, and one is a Peruvian citizen.

The head of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Francisco Duran, said that 3,343 are hospitalized under observation, of them 1,602  are suspected cases and 266 confirmed cases.   255 are reported in stable, 8 in critical, and 3 in serious condition.

At the community level, the primary health care system is keeping 18,314 people under medical observation.

Since the first cases were reported on March 11, six patients have died in Cuba, one was repatriated, and 15 have recovered.

Dr. Duran stressed that on Friday, 1,057 lab tests were conducted, a record for one single day.  The medical professional insisted that one of the primary goals of the preventive approach against COVID-19 is screening risk groups for the early detection of the virus.

The novel coronavirus pandemic is present in 179 countries worldwide, with one million patients, and a reported 51,000 deaths.

The region of the Americas reports 281,000 cases -- 28% of all cases in the world with 7,000 fatalities.