Covid-19 uptick continues in Cuba

Havana, Jul 29 (EFE).- The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Cuba grew by 8,607 in the last 24 hours to 366,985, while an additional 68 people died of coronavirus to bring the toll from the pandemic to 2,628, the health ministry said Thursday.

Laboratories processed more than 53,000 tests to detect those 8,607 new infections, 16 of which were determined to have originated outside the island.

Hospitals and quarantine centers are currently accommodating 85,289 people, including 44,059 patients with confirmed cases of coronavirus and 37,496 who are showing symptoms.

Nationwide, 146 Covid-19 patients are listed in critical condition.

Havana province, which includes the Cuban capital and is home to 4.8 million people, has the largest number of active cases, 1,714, the highest since Covid-19 was first detected on the island in March 2020.

More than 3 million of Cuba’s 11.2 million people have received at least one dose of either of the two coronavirus vaccines developed on the Communist-ruled island.

One of those formulas, Abdala, has been authorized for emergency use by Cuba’s CECMED medical safety agency, making it the first vaccine to emerge from Latin America.

The World Health Organization has designated CECMED as a Regional Reference Authority for medicines in the Americas, meaning that the Cuban agency can certify drugs for use throughout the region.

The other domestic vaccine candidate, Soberana 02, is awaiting approval from CECMED.

The Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) reported that in clinical trials, the three-dose Abdala vaccine achieved 92 percent efficacy among 48,000 test subjects ranging in age from 19 to 80.

Regarding the other formula, health officials say that the combination of two doses of Soberana 02 and a single injection of Soberana Plus proved 91.2 percent effective in clinical trials.

EFE lbp/dr