On Thursday, June 18, the first phase of the post-COVID-19 recovery phase began in all Cuban provinces, except Havana and Matanzas, with the purpose of gradually returning to normal, with the minimal risk.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- This is possible, as it was explained by President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, due to the protagonism of the people both in confronting the disease and in complying with the different measures directed by the competent bodies to maintain the vitality of the country in the midst of a complex health situation.

In Las Tunas, the resume of various social processes and activities has been very well received by the population, which generally maintained discipline and understanding despite the lack of some basic resources and the fact of remaining in social isolation, with alternatives such as teleworking, distance work modality, and teleclasses reception for students.

Among the measures for the gradual restart of services, the implementation of public and private transport (pedicabs, animal-drawn carriages and automotive equipment), both urban with all its routes, rural and inter-municipal, has a great impact with the exception of the interprocincial trips.

Luis Enrique Arias Peña, director of the Provincial Transport Company, reported that, in the case of the buses, they will operate with all the seats and 50 percent capacity of the standing passengers and that an inspector will travel in each one to ensure compliance with the provisions.

He added that the transportation guarantee for workers of the Dr. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Mártires de Las Tunas hospitals is maintained, as well as patients who require hemodialysis or chemotherapy and those people involved in important tasks related to combating the new coronavirus.

Dr. Viviana Gutiérrez Rodríguez, director of Health in the province, said that consultation and hospitalization services restart at 50 percent in all municipalities, as well as the surgical activity, in which there will be priority for pathologies that may have more complications for the patients.

She pointed out that in this period the restrictions for visits to nursing homes and grandparents' daycare centers are maintained and that the sector workers, aware of their mission, are ready to continue attending the health problems of the inhabitants.

In this first phase, the chlorine sale points will be maintained, all stores and industrial markets were enabled for direct customer service, and the workshops of the Technical, Personal and Home Services Company were reopened, while the network of accommodation centers resumes it service to half its capacity.

The director of the Business Group of Commerce, Rolando Rodríguez Rojas, pointed out that restaurants and gastronomic units open at 40 percent of their capacity to guarantee the physical distance between diners and that the option of takeaway, highly demanded, will not be affected. In the past months, the people of Las Tunas have bought more than seven million rations to date.

He added that in the first two phases of the first stage, nightclubs, bars and other centers will not open; instead, the swimming pools will receive bathers at two times, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

The Family Care System units in the eight municipalities maintain all their services at home to benefit those vulnerable people and on Sunday, Father's Day, they will have a different offer to homage to the parents.

Precisely on the occasion, the local cemeteries will open for persons to pay tribute their relatives. Differentiated transportation and the sale of flowers are organized in the vicinity of the necropolis.

During the last meeting of the Provincial Defense Council (CDP), guided by Manuel Pérez Gallego, president of that body, the delegate of the Ministry of Tourism in Las Tunas, Giarlis Melenilla Romero, intervened, who listed the main actions of his entity for the days to come.

In the first place, he mentioned the sale of the reservations for the Popular Camping facilities, which begins to provide their services this Saturday, except Cerro de Caisimú which will take a few days, as it worked as one of isolation centers for travelers arriving in the territory. For the commercialization of 60 percent of the capacities, 11 points were opened; of them, five in this city: in the Guevara hospital, the University of Medical Sciences, 26 de Julio Park, Tanque de Buena Vista and the Reservations Office.

He also reported that those interested can purchase tourist packages destined for other Cuban provinces, with guaranteed transportation and food options. He also said that the Caracol stores will gradually open its units in which clothes and shoes will be sold, mainly.

In the specific case of the Brisas Covarrubias hotel, it was specified that it will remain closed and its opening will depend on the demand of national tourists, since for the next few days only some facilities were selected to be reopened in the national territory.

Regarding education, it was reiterated that the 2019-2020 school year will continue in September; however, the strategy to avoid overcrowding in the classrooms of all the teachings, including the University, when returning to the activity, is already being designed.

The University of Medical Sciences will conclude the academic period in the month of July, as the students remained in their usual settings and will graduate the enrollment of its terminal years in the careers of Medicine, Stomatology, Nursing and Health Technology.

The commercial offices of the Electric Company will not be opened to the public yet and the payment of the service will be maintained through the reader-collector, the electronic platforms or in person at the Correos de Cuba units.

In the implementation of this package of measures, self-employed workers are included, a labor modality of significant importance for the Cuban economy and present in the activities of transportation, tourism, gastronomic services and repair of household goods, just to give a few examples.

Other actions that are implemented in the territory of Las Tunas are related to the flexibility of obituary services, the activities of religious institutions and associations of people with disabilities, judicial procedures, and visits to penitentiary centers.

Subsequently, the different agencies and entities will report other details of their social management in these days, always with the aim of preventing new outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease, as claimed by Jaime Ernesto Chiang Vega, vice president of the CDP.

Chiang Vega specified that the movement of people is not restricted; but, the use of the protective mask, the physical distance, the foot baths and the washing of the hands with soapy and chlorinated solutions are obligatory.

Now more than ever it is necessary to act with discipline for the total success of the de-escalation, that each one fulfills their responsibilities thinking of themselves, the family and the others, to avoid setbacks in this combat, of which the people have declared the winner.