Cuba has begun mass production of its own vaccine against the new coronavirus, while dozens of streets in the capital and other provinces have been quarantined and closed to traffic.
In the midst of an outbreak that began in January and has not stopped escalating infections and diseases, the capital – with two million inhabitants – has become one of the epicenters of new infections, so authorities have kept several streets closed in Centro Habana, especially the People’s Council of Sites, the Associated Press confirmed on Monday.
“We are trying not to spread the epidemic,” Vladimir Matos, a 45-year-old government official, told the AP, along with a one-and-a-half-meter-high metal fence blocking the corner of Reina Street. And Manrique. “We have an insurance organization here. Infected people are not in their homes, but in (specialized) centers ”.
Along with Matos, there are police officers who control the passage through an identity document, so that only residents enter and, in general, no one leaves. Authorities have set up huge tents where bread, eggs and other food are sold for families to buy. Centro Habana has 152,000 inhabitants, many of them living in dilapidated buildings that have been turned into barracks or “solar”, as they are called on the island.
“It’s pretty well organized,” said neighbor Eduardo Johnson, a 61-year-old retiree. “I have a perception of risk, I did the ‘screening’ (tests) … it’s not fear, it’s caution. I don’t visit and when I go out I take all the measurements.
In other areas of the capital, such as Old Havana and Arroyo Naranjo, blocks of flats, blocks of flats and buildings have also been closed, and some streets have yellow stripes and police checkpoints preventing them from crossing.
During his appearance on television, the island’s director of epidemiology, Francisco Durán, indicated that from March 2020 to date there have been 45,361 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and of these 300 deaths – four were reported on Monday. In addition, 19,873 people are admitted to specialized centers, of which 4,968 are active cases, and the rest are under surveillance or suspects.
For months, Cuba has kept the pandemic under relative control, but an outbreak broke out after authorities ordered the opening of airports and permits for commercial flights – which were canceled in March – and a de-escalation of control measures in November.