South African Variant of Covid Possibly Detected in Cuba

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “An asymptomatic traveler was detected through surveillance in ports and airports …, ” Dr. María Guadalupe Guzmán from the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine said at an appearance on Friday, January 22nd. Although the case was ‘imported’, Guzmán did not rule out that the variant is already circulating locally.

Both Guzmán and the director of Epidemiology, Francisco Durán, denied that the outbreak of the first weeks of the year has to do with the South African variant and attributed it to the fact that the population does not comply with the health protocol.

Cuba reached 20,060 accumulated cases –530 registered on Thursday – and of them 188 deaths.

Cuba, which achieved relative control of the virus last year with entire provinces that did not report cases in more than 100 days, began a de-escalation of restrictions with the authorization in November of commercial flights for the arrival of tourists and Cubans residing abroad. The protocol included conducting tests upon arrival and quarantine at the homes of travelers, but due to the increase in cases, limitations were tightened, restricting countries of origin and requiring a negative test before boarding.

Currently there are territories that closed their schools again, circulation limitations and closure of some economic activities. The use of the chinstrap and social distance are mandatory.

Durán indicated that the country from which the most cases of arrivals with sick passengers were detected COVID-19 It was the United States, where the largest community of Cuban emigrants lives.

The recent variants of the virus that emerged in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil are not necessarily more lethal, Guzmán and Durán agreed, but they seem to spread more easily and scientists said they will therefore lead to more cases, deaths and hospitalizations.

Furthermore, mutations could eventually lead to a reduction in the capacity of vaccines as they are developed to date.

Cuba began testing this week by immunizing some 900 people – in the next few weeks it is expected that there will be 150,000 – as part of the trials with its vaccine candidate Soberana 02, created by its own laboratories.

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