This province of eastern Cuba registered, on Thursday, the second-highest number of new positives to SARS-CoV-2 for one day. The news tenses the entire coping gear for the pandemic in a territory that still continues to be the one with the lowest incidence rate of the disease in the entire country.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- After the statistical closure corresponding to the day of February 11, 15 new positives were diagnosed here, a figure only surpassed by the 18 of December 23, 2020. However, unlike back then, when the total of cases was divided equally between autochthonous and imported; on this occasion, all the patients are contacts of previously confirmed cases, which show the persistence of the transmission of the new coronavirus.

Of those infected disclosed in the official report issued by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), nine residents in the municipality of Las Tunas, affecting its four health areas; the remaining six correspond to the municipality of Amancio, dispersed between the areas of Vicente Pérez, Jovellanos, La Esperanza, El Jardín and El Batey. Now the incidence rate of autochthonous COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants throughout the province has risen to 9.38.

Dr. Aldo Cortés González, deputy director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology, pointed out that these infections "are due to the incidence of contacts of confirmed cases that attend public places or other settings. The risk in Las Tunas is similar in all areas," he warned. The expert reiterated that the common denominator to contain this situation continues to be real physical distancing and to comply with all the indicated sanitary measures.

This Friday, 27 inhabitants of this eastern Cuban province were hospitalized with COVID-19, adding those admitted in the asymptomatic patient care center and those transferred to the Fermín Valdés Domínguez hospital, in Holguín.

Since the first case was detected in March 2020, 311 people from Las Tunas have already suffered from COVID-19; 135 were infected abroad and 176 within the country.

In the last two months, Las Tunas experienced a new outbreak of the disease, adding 214 new cases in the aforementioned period. That number, much less severe compared to those seen in other areas of the country. However, the local authorities took measures to restrict transportation and non-essential services in order to keep Las Tunas within the stage of the new normal.