Cuban health authorities have decided to change the frequency of reporting new cases and admitted people with Covid-19, which was previously daily, and now provide the information on a weekly basis.
An informative note on the official website of the Cuban Ministry of Health (Minsap) states that this measure is being taken “based on the control of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.”
The text points out that the decline in the number of confirmed cases and deaths as well as the high immunity of the population is also taken into account.
Finally, the statement notes that this decision is in line with the information system established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for this phase.
The reports will now be presented every Monday, according to Minsap.
Covid-19 in Cuba
According to official sources, the first patient tested positive for Covid-19 on Cuban territory was confirmed on March 11, 2020.
Minsap statistics indicate that since that date to date, one million 115,000 patients have been diagnosed with the disease, and the number stands at “eight thousand 530 deaths, representing a mortality rate of 0.76 percent.”
As of September 7, there have been more than 1 million 106,000 discharges and no new confirmed severe or critical patients have been reported in the country’s intensive care units.
However, other media outlets estimate the number of deaths in Cuba to be over 30,000. As a reference, they take the excessive increase in deaths reported by the island in 2021.
Deaths registered by ONEI in Cuba reached 167,645, an increase of more than 55,000 deaths in 2020. This astronomical number of deaths and the difference from the previous annual average suggest that Covid deaths in Cuba were higher than those officially reported.
Is vaccination completed in Cuba?
According to the Ministry of Health, about 91 percent of the Cuban population has completed their vaccination plan against Covid-19 (data from July this year).
With the first dose, 10 million, 764,532 people have been reported and with the second nine million, 472,857 people. With the third there are nine million, 165,604 people and with booster doses there are eight million, 765,416 people.
In September 2021, Cuba was the country in Latin America with the highest percentage of the population benefiting from at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with the drugs developed and manufactured on the island.
In May this year, the WHO declared an end to the global health emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but urged not to let up.
For the WHO director-general, the worst thing a country could do is dismantle the systems it has built or give the impression that Covid-19 is no longer a cause for concern.
Also in May, but last year, the WHO reported that nearly 15 million people died from Covid worldwide, three times more than originally calculated.
