Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology

"Our State spares no resources to guarantee people's health," said Dr. Diego Julián Álvarez Dopazo, director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology, who contacted 26Digital to detail what happened around the 3-year-old girl's case, resident in this province, who was initially informed as positive for COVID-19 and then, after exceptional confirmatory tests it was concluded that it was negative.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- “As is done with all the cases that are studied and analyzed by Las Tunas and at the national level, explained Álvarez Dopazo, it is seen in detail in a Provincial Technical Commission made up of a group of experts that monitor the confrontation with the coronavirus.” The commission, he added, discusses the cases that are influencing the issue of epidemiological surveillance with respect to the coronavirus, i.e. suspected cases, contact with suspects and any that is confirmed.

The head of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology specified that with respect to the girl after the epidemiological survey, her possible source of infection could not be clearly established. Therefore, he said, after consulting with the National Command Post and especially with the Minister of Public Health, it was exceptionally decided to carry out a second sample collection, which was sent to the reference laboratory in Santiago de Cuba.

“That last sample was evaluated twice in the day and both were negative. It means that on two more occasions it was tried to clarify that case and therefore that gave us a higher range of confidence,” he stated.
Regarding the contacts detected around the patient, he pointed out that these should comply with the established isolation protocols, including real-time PCR tests, the results of which are still pending.

As a result of these events, Dr. Álvarez Dopazo insisted on the need for people to maintain a high perception of risk and to comply with all the measures indicated to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "It has to be a conscious discipline that they do not feel an imposition of the government authorities or the mass organizations, but that they raise awareness of the importance of maintaining social isolation, hygienic-sanitary measures of frequent handwashing and the use of the protective mask,” he concluded.

COVID-19 in Las Tunas