«Now that we are winning this fight we cannot put at risk the results we have,» said President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, as he led the meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of COVID-19, which this Thursday dedicated a good part of its analysis to Havana and the new measures that will be applied in that territory to stop the transmission of the disease.
After referring to the undisciplined behavior of some people, the Head of State said that «we cannot allow a group of irresponsible people to be the ones who cause the inconvenience to the majority. We all have to subordinate ourselves to the interest of the majority, which are the interests of the nation, of each province, of each municipality; which is above all to save lives and prevent the spread of the contagion».
So, said Diaz-Canel, «we cannot allow some people to destroy what the majority is doing”.
The president added that «the people have to understand that this takes a personal, family sacrifice; we have to limit ourselves from a group of things that we do in normal conditions. Doing it right now is the guarantee that we can be in a more normal situation sooner».
We cannot do this only with the police, he said, «we have to work with community factors. There has to be vigilance by the constituency delegates and the people’s council presidents. We have to create groups with different levels of integration of people within the neighborhood and the community, who are constantly alerting and calling attention, in the best sense of the word, to the rest of the citizens so that they don’t commit indiscipline.
The President of the Republic commented that «understanding works a lot in the neighborhood, where there are people who are very prestigious. There are the combatants, comrades who have an outstanding life, the mass organizations, the delegates and presidents of the people’s councils, doctors, professionals, together with the contribution that the young people are making.
If a group in each place, he exemplified, «is constantly managing that people are not in the streets and asking them to comply with the measures, it will be clearer that they are undisciplined, that they do not want to support and then it is easier to direct the concrete and rigorous action towards these people.
Diaz-Canel said: “we have to solve The big problems with the greatest possible popular participation”.
These statements by the President of the Republic were motivated by the decision to increase actions in Havana to stop the transmission of COVID-19 and achieve epidemiological stability in this territory, which today has 822 cases, the highest number in the country.
In this regard, Governor Reinaldo García Zapata explained that the measures to reinforce social isolation will be extended to the five People’s Councils in the municipality of Centro Habana and to the entire People’s Council of Luyanó Moderno, in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón. This decision will also be taken in the Popular Council of Latino, in the municipality of El Cerro.
In addition, he said, the penalties and fines for those who remain on the streets and continue to fail to comply with health measures will be increased.
With respect to epidemiological surveillance, he said that active research will be carried out on high social risk groups in 12 popular councils in the capital. At the same time, a population intervention study will be deployed with PCR tests, to find out the incidence of asymptomatic people in the 15 municipalities.
The new decisions in Havana also include the reorganization of health services, greater protection for health workers and strict control in social institutions and large workplaces to prevent any local transmission events there.
On this new stage of work that the capital of all Cubans is now entering, the president of the Provincial Defense Council, Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, said that «if the leaders, the mass organizations, Public Health, with the support of the Ministry of the Interior, generate in the people a perception of danger and risk, that has to provoke a positive reaction from the people. What we are going to do, he added, is for people to respond to us and not to come up with other more restrictive measures.
At Thursday’s meeting, the situation of the province of Camagüey was discussed. In addition to facing the pandemic, the province is recovering from the damage caused by a severe local storm that occurred in late April in the municipality of Florida.
Governor Yoseily Góngora López reported that 39 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the territory, of which 33 have already been recovered. They are keeping open a transmission event that should close in the next few days.
Regarding the effects of the weather event, she explained that work is being done on the nine total collapses of homes, which will benefit 11 families. Of a total of 500 affected, 225 have been solved and all the necessary construction materials are in the territory.
The population’s views on this recovery process are very positive, the Prime Minister acknowledged, on the response being given and the speed of it. That pace must be maintained, he said, and the date given for its completion must be ratified.
