Cuba arrivals face quarantine

Cuba announced ,on Saturday new confinement measures in hotels for tourists entering   the country  following a new peak of 910 cases of COVID-19, the Ministry of Public Health reported. 

Cuba, with 11.2 million inhabitants, is one of the countries least affected in the region by the  coronavirus.

The Caribbean country has so far registered 25,674 infections and 213 deaths from covid-19, three of them died on Friday, reported Francisco Durán, head of Epidemiology at the Ministry.

Among the new measures that will come into effect on February 6, “institutional isolation of international travelers will be implemented,” Durán said.This will mean that people arriving in the country will be subjected to a PCR test at the airport and then transferred to isolation centers where they will receive medical surveillance.

Foreigners and Cubans who do not reside in the country will be isolated in hotels designated by the authorities and their stay will be paid for by visitors. Meanwhile, Cuban residents will remain isolated ina center designated for this purpose free of charge.

In all cases, travelers will undergo a second PCR test on the fifth day and if they test negative, they can leave the isolation. All people who test positive in Cuba are hospitalized.

The transport authorities announced that as of February 6 they will temporarily reduce to

a weekly flight the frequency, and in some cases fortnightly, of airline flights from the United States, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Bahamas.

The restart of flights from Nicaragua, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname will also be suspended, while flights from Haiti will be  canceled.