Cuba lauded for its quick pandemic response
Island manages to keep figures low within its borders
An early response to the pandemic and a strong healthcare system enabled Cuba to curb the highly contagious virus quickly and more effectively than its neighboring Caribbean countries.
In a New Scientist report, experts praised the island nation’s response to the disease, with the country even managing to deploy its teams of doctors across the globe to help countries treat their overwhelming numbers of coronavirus patients.
There have been 2,361 confirmed individuals infected with COVID-19 in Cuba since its first case in March, including 86 deaths. This is according to the latest tally of Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. These figures are surprisingly impressive, considering Cuba’s gentrification. Cuba’s population is one of the oldest in the Americas.
Moreover, Cuba is no stranger to infamously long queues for state-provided goods, which make social distancing and self-isolation difficult.
In spite of its strong medical force, the 11.3 million island nation “suffers from scarcities and material shortages that are characteristic of the Cuban economy as a whole”.
Yet, “a really strong primary healthcare system has been a major player in controlling the outbreak,” said Alcimar Perez-Riverol at São Paulo State University.
Cuba has the highest doctor-per-patient ratio in the world, with 8.19 doctors per 1000 individuals. By comparison, Brazil has 2.15, and the US 2.6.
The government should also be credited for acting early, Perez-Riverol added. “They were preparing the whole system for diagnostics two months before the first case was detected,” he said.
Even before the first reported case, Cuba’s government has carried out a diligent door-to-door system to inform the public about the novel coronavirus, as well as conduct an efficient contact tracing with its teams of doctors, nurses and medical students. Cuba then sent these suspected COVID-19 cases to state-run isolation centres right away and traced all their recent contacts.