Cuba decided to limit the entry of travelers from the United States, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Haiti from Jan. 1 to stop the current covid-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Health (Minsap) reported Monday. .
The institution argued in an official text that the decision to “reduce the number of travelers” was taken from these countries “taking into account (…) the current national, regional and international epidemiological situation”, and that it even applies. will be on citizens and residents of Cuba.
The Minsap highlighted the increase in the number of imported cases of covid-19 registered with the arrival of international flights, which represented 71.5% of the total number of infections detected in recent weeks.
According to the agency, most of these cases involve Cuban nationals from these countries.
More than two million Cubans live outside the country, mainly in the United States, which has more than a million emigrants, many of whom travel to the island to spend the end of the year holidays with their families.
For this purpose, “Cuba’s civil aviation authorities are adjusting the necessary details to the airlines. As soon as the epidemiological situation permits, the frequency of flights will be gradually restored,” said Minsap, without specifying whether the reduction in the number of travelers will take place. terms of the number of passengers or flights.
Last week, Cuba imposed an obligation for all international travelers to show a PCR test with a negative result 72 hours before the flight from January 10.
Cuba reported 217 cases of the new coronavirus last Thursday, including 101 imported, “the highest number of infections since the start of the epidemic” in March, the official Granma newspaper reported on that date.
At the end of Saturday, the island of 11.2 million people reported 11,205 cases and 142 deaths.