Havana, September 20th.- The meeting of the Temporary Working Group of the Government to confront COVID-19, held this Monday, from the Palace of the Revolution, headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, as well as by the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, and the Vice President of the Republic, Salvador Valdés Mesa.
There is a group of territories in the country, in which an improvement is not yet in sight in relation to the behavior of the COVID-19 epidemic. Such reality is indicating the need to seek new ways of acting in the face of an epidemiological challenge that demands resistance and also audacity.
The concept was expressed this Monday by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, during the meeting of the Temporary Working Group of the Government to confront COVID-19, which was headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and by Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa.
The meeting took place from the Palace of the Revolution where –through videoconference–, in addition to the epidemiological situation, issues such as the availability of medicinal oxygen and the electroenergetic situation were analyzed.
The Prime Minister insisted on the need to continue advancing in vaccination: "we must continue to accelerate, he said, this process, which is one of the ways by which we can have control of the epidemic before the end of the year."
THE EPIDEMIC THROUGH THE NUMBERS
During this month there is a decrease in the daily average of cases. The data was offered by the Minister of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda, who explained that, at the close of week 37 of the epidemic - marked with the date of September 18 - the average number of cases per day was 7,884. which represents the decrease, by 7.8%, with respect to that registered in August.
The highest levels of transmission during September, he added, have occurred in Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey, Holguín and Havana. It is in these territories, he said, where 51% of the cases in the country are concentrated so far this month.
In the week just ended, there were 497 deaths due to COVID-19, a figure that indicates a decrease in this indicator, compared to the previous week, by 16.6%.
Regarding the vaccination process, the Health Minister affirmed that, according to data processed until this September 18, the Cubans had already received 18,126,208 doses. Of the total population, he stated, the group that has received a first dose of vaccine already represents the
73.3%, while those who reached the second made up 48.3%; and those who reached the third are 40.3%.
NOTES ON PRIORITIES
Of several priorities, so that Cuba continues to advance and overcome deficiencies, the Prime Minister spoke: «We are working on the implementation, what was approved and seen in the Political Bureau and in the Council of Ministers, related to the proposals of the different meetings that have been done (by the country's leadership) with the different sectors of society.
The Head of Government also mentioned food production, a task that "continues to be a priority for everyone." And in this regard he emphasized marketing and ways to stimulate those who work the land.
Regarding the electroenergetic situation, which he considered to be still complex, Marrero Cruz highlighted the understanding of those who have been affected by the deficiencies that have arisen. He explained that several adverse factors have come together in this problem: those that already existed, the unexpected departure of some thermoelectric plants and the event of notable proportions last Friday.
The member of the Political Bureau also spoke about opening the gastronomic services and other commercial offers throughout the country, who made reference to knocking on doors, not only to state institutions but also to non-state ones, and also to all artisans, "and see how we can cover with more products in different stores", based on our own creations.
To the authorities of each territory, from whom he requested the design of their opening strategies, the Prime Minister expressed that where the epidemiological situation is complicated "they would not open for now." It is, he stressed, to do things gradually, and to do them well.
Work on addressing the population's concerns - a matter "that we can no longer detach from work with the neighborhoods" -, give concrete answers as much as possible, continue taking steps in the Family Code, and also in the Population Census and Homes to be executed in Cuba in 2022, were part of the priorities explained by Marrero Cruz during the meeting.