Cuba breaks new record with 3,519 cases of Covid-19 in one day (June 3)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Cuba broke Sunday a new record of contagions in one day by reporting 3,519 positive cases of Covid-19 and a total of 19,320 active cases, the highest figures since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the report of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap).

The pandemic’s epicenter shifted from Havana to the western province of Matanzas, which registered 1,191 new patients, the highest figure recorded by territory in the entire health crisis.

It is followed by the capital with 537, central-eastern Camagüey (302), and eastern Santiago (292).

The cumulataive total in the country amounts to 204,247 cases, and 1,351 deaths, 14 of them registered the prior day.

Of the new positives, 3,322 are of community (local) origin and 197 imported, all detected through the analysis of 37,801 PCR samples.

Travelers from Russia accounted for the highest number of imported infections, with 173, including 120 tourists and Cuban nationals.

The country – with 11.2 million people – was declared in a phase of community transmission of the disease on June 30 due to the severe impact of the third wave of the coronavirus, for which it now has an incidence rate of 329.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and a curve with an upward trend.

In the territories at risk, including the capital, a health intervention study is being carried out using Abdala and Soberana 02, the two most advanced vaccine candidates against the coronavirus developed by Cuba.

According to local health authorities, both formulas are awaiting authorization for emergency use by the Cuban drug regulatory agency after showing 92.2% (Abdala) and 62% (Soberana 02) efficacy in the latest phase of clinical trials.

More than 1.5 million Cubans have received the complete scheme of three doses of these formulas as part of the clinical trials. Intervention studies developed parallel to the health one, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

A clinical trial is also underway in children and adolescents with doses of Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, while another with Abdala was authorized this week.

Cuba is not a member of the World Health Organization’s Covax mechanism, created for middle and low-income countries to access vaccines, nor has it purchased them on the international market.