Cuba Increases International Cooperation and Steps Up Measures to Deal with the Pandemic at Home
Despite brutal U.S. blockade against Cuba, yet
another Cuban medical team prepares to
travel
to the European principality of Andorra,
bordering Spain, to assist in combatting
COVID-19.
"Humanity faces a common challenge. This
pandemic does not respect borders or ideologies.
It threatens the lives of all and it is everyone's
responsibility to address it," Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on his Twitter
account this week.
In his intervention on March 27 at the Virtual
Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on Health
Issues for the Containment and Monitoring of
COVID-19, Rodríguez called for a joint effort to
strengthen solidarity and international
cooperation to address the pandemic.
He said Cuba provides its modest cooperation to
those who request it and is willing to continue
doing so, and affirmed that Our America can emerge
victorious supported by solidarity and unity in
diversity. In this sense he said political
differences must be set aside, to make way for the
joint search for the necessary answers, without
expecting miraculous aid from the developed North.
He said it was unacceptable that some countries
have to deal with the application of arbitrary
unilateral coercive measures like those imposed by
the United States against Nicaragua and Venezuela,
demanding an immediate end to them. He also
condemned the campaign of the U.S. government to
try and discredit Cuba's medical cooperation by
pressuring countries to reject it, noting that it
comes right at a time when solidarity among
nations is increasing around the world.
"Cuba promotes peace, health, life. We are proud
of our health professionals who from this island
or different corners of the world have joined the
fight against COVID-19. They embody the humanity
and solidarity of the Cuban Revolution," he said.
Cuba has so far sent medical teams to assist 14
countries, including Italy and Andorra, which
borders the hard-hit countries of Spain and
France, in Europe; Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, St.
Lucia, Suriname, Grenada, Dominica, St.
Kitts and Nevis, and Belize in the
Caribbean; and Venezuela and Nicaragua. Most
of the 800 health professionals on these missions
are members of the specially trained Henry Reeve
International Medical Brigade against Disasters
and Serious Epidemics, renowned for its work
against the Ebola epidemic in Africa. Another 500
doctors, mainly specialists in emergency medicine
and therapy, will shortly depart for Argentina.
Cuba also reports that over 45 countries around
the world have requested its Recombinant Human
Interferon Alpha 2B for use in their treatment
regimens for COVID-19, based on favourable results
it has obtained in China, Cuba and other
countries.
Coping with the Pandemic at Home
Public Health Minister Jose Angel Portal reported
on Sunday that as of March 29 Cuba had 139
confirmed COVID-19 cases. These included 114
Cubans and 25 foreigners. There are 124 who are
clinically stable, 3 are in critical condition, 3
in serious condition, and 3 have died. One has
been evacuated from the country and 4 have been
released. He said Cuba is currently in the
pre-epidemic stage as community transmission is
not yet in evidence.
On March 20 President Díaz-Canel addressed the
nation on television, saying "As a state and
government, we have the responsibility to protect
human lives and the entire social fabric,
addressing the situation in a comprehensive
manner, with serenity, realism and objectivity.
There can be no panic, but no overconfidence
either." He announced that as of March 24
non-residents of Cuba would not be allowed to
travel to the country, cutting off a major source
of the country's income for 30 days. Cuban
residents entering that country would be required
to undergo 14 days of quarantine. He also called
on the population to more seriously practice
social distancing and other practices aimed at
preventing the transmission of COVID-19.
Of the Cuban residents who returned home from
abroad on March 28, 128 went directly to
established isolation centers for
clinical-epidemiological monitoring. So far 2,317
people, 115 of them foreigners, have spent time
and been monitored in those centres. In addition,
30,642 people are in quarantine at home, at the
primary care level. Medical students and members
of the Federation of Cuban Women and of Committees
for the Defense of the Revolution have visited
more than 642,560 families to ensure they have the
support needed to confront the pandemic.
Cuba has begun adopting new measures in terms of
its internal trade and sectors of the economy
where investments will be directed, since its
ability to import needed goods cannot be counted
on in the coming period.
On March 28 Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil
announced that domestic production would be
focused on such things as agriculture, hygiene and
medications. Minister of Internal Trade Betsy Diaz
announced plans for the distribution of food and
other necessities in an equitable way, aimed at
preventing crowding. Sales of vegetables, proteins
and hygiene products will be prioritized, she
said, to supply all Cuban households.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 10 - March 28, 2020
Article Link:
Cuba Increases International Cooperation and Steps Up Measures to Deal with the Pandemic at Home
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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