Cuba confirms 40 cases of coronavirus but suspects many more; schools will close
Cuban doctors are closely watching more than 37,000 people across the island with symptoms similar to those caused by the coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases rose to 40, the Ministry of Public Health said Monday.
As of Sunday, the ministry had confirmed 35 cases of people with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. According to Monday’s statement, the five new patients are a Russian citizen, a French citizen and three Cubans.
In a live television address Monday evening, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero also announced the closing of schools and universities.
“We will suspend classes starting tomorrow,” until April 20, Marrero said, in part due to “concerns” shared by the population about crowded schools and lack of hygiene.
As announced on Friday, Cubans living abroad and foreigners will not be able to travel to the island starting next Tuesday, the minister said, and Cubans returning to the country will be isolated for 14 days.
Around 30,000 tourists who have not yet left the island will be isolated in hotels. The minister said the government will relocate tourists staying at private accommodations to government-run hotels.
The prime minister also announced new restrictions on domestic travel and more strict social distancing measures at stores and other businesses. The government will expand the presence of the police in streets, grocery stores and other public places to enforce the new regulations, Marrero added.
The stricter policies come as the government is expanding the screening of suspected cases.
The Ministry of Public Health said Monday that family doctors are monitoring the symptoms of 37,778 Cubans. Last week, the government started sending doctors, nurses, and medical students door-to-door across the island, looking for people with fever, cough and shortness of breath, the symptoms of COVID-19. These are also common to other respiratory diseases such as influenza and the common cold.
The ministry also announced that another 1,036 Cubans and foreigners were in isolation in various hospitals. Of those admitted, doctors suspect that 531 may have contracted the virus.
On Sunday, the ministry had reported that 255 foreigners and 727 Cubans were under observation in hospitals, but it did not update the data in Monday’s report.
The report did not say whether all the suspected cases were tested for coronavirus, but public information suggests testing is not widely available. Cuban health authorities have said that they have the tests, but have not clarified if the World Health Organization provided them or if they were made in Cuba.
So far, the government has denied that the virus is spreading among the population and has said that all cases are related to tourists or travel overseas. The authorities had used that argument to explain why they had not implemented more drastic measures of social isolation.
Among the sick patients is an 18-month-old Cuban boy who traveled to the island from Spain with his mother. The 19-year-old woman also tested positive for COVID-19.
The government also reported Sunday that a Cuban who arrived on the island on March 6 from Miami is among the confirmed cases. The 27-year-old man lives in the province of Sancti Spíritus and has been admitted to a hospital in the neighboring province of Villa Clara.
An American who was among the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Cuba was evacuated last Friday to the United States, according to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
Only one person, an Italian tourist, has died of COVID-19 in Cuba, but the Ministry of Public Health reported Monday that three other patients were in serious or critical condition.
On Friday, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that the country would no longer allow the entry of tourists and international travelers starting on Tuesday. Despite criticism from the population, the government had kept the borders open and continued promoting tourism to the island, one of its primary sources of income.
As the pandemic spreads in Cuba and the rest of the world, the island’s government also sent 53 doctors and nurses over the weekend to northern Italy, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in that country. Another 140 Cuban doctors, nurses, and therapists arrived in Jamaica on Saturday.
The island’s government, which prides itself on providing medical cooperation to other countries in times of crisis, has also sent doctors to Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Suriname.
Follow Nora Gámez Torres on Twitter: @ngameztorres
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 3:15 PM.