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.
The ministry said family doctors are monitoring the symptoms of 37,778 Cubans. Last week, the government started sending doctors, nurses and medical students to go 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 produced 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 have used that argument to explain why they have 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 March 6 from Miami is among the confirmed cases. The 27-year-old man lives in the province of Sancti Spiritus 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 Rodriguez 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 Diaz-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.
