Several Cuban Officials and Party Cadres Infected by Covid-19

People in the city center of Sancti Spíritus standing

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 27 September 2020 — The number of infections by Covid-19 continues to grow in Cuba and in recent days several health workers, officials and party cadres who reside in areas with a critical situation, such as Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila, have been infected.

Julio Jiménez López, first secretary of the Communist Party of the municipality of Sancti Spíritus and Orelvis Rodríguez, director of Health of that city, were confirmed to be positive for the new coronavirus by the official press.

The sources of infection of the two officials are being investigated, according to Manuel Rivero Abella, provincial director of Health, who spoke with the Escambray newspaper. Three hundred contacts remain isolated and some of the leaders’ relatives were confirmed to have the disease, including Jiménez López’s wife and their 12-year-old daughter, as corroborated by 14ymedio.

Rivero Abella said that the infection of the leaders has to do with “the work they carry out. They are exposed to risks, having to visit isolation centers, containment points, among other places where there may be infected people.”

The blocks where the new cases live have been quarantined, he said. The authorities are using this weekend to close the Colon Popular Council area under strict quarantine, as it is one of the areas where more cases have been detected, health sources informed this newspaper.

Jiménez López said he felt good and was under medical treatment, communicating by phone with Escambray.

On the other hand, in Havana, at the last meeting of the Provincial Defense Committee, several individuals were classified as “serious,” with their conditions related to non-compliance with health protocols “by medical and administrative personnel in several municipalities. They will be sanctioned in a timely manner,” according to information published in the Tribuna de La Habana.

Although no further details of the events that occurred in the capital were offered, the authorities demanded “an eradication of the bungling” and emphasized that all actions that hinder the work being carried out and that “threaten the life and safety of people are considered a crime.”

One of the sources of contagion which, after the outbreak of recent months uncovered the negligence in the Cuban health system, was reported at the Doctor Antonio Luaces Iraola General Hospital, the main health center in Ciego de Ávila. Local authorities blamed the workers and their “non-compliance with protocols,” for the situation. However, this newspaper was able to contact some of the medical personnel who insisted that the cause was negligence.

“The problem was that patients who needed dialysis were transported in the same buses for several days with others who obviously had Covid-19,” said a nurse from the medical center. “The result is that at one point we had more than half the patients in the nephrology ward also infected with the coronavirus.”

Sancti Spíritus, together with Havana, Ciego de Ávila and Matanzas, are the provinces that currently have the worst situation according to the per inhabitant rate of incidence of the virus.

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