CAMAGÜEY- Almost 100,000 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests to detect the SARS-CoV 2 virus have been performed in the province since a year ago, when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed. In the last twelve months, the number of hospitalized people exceeds 6,000, which represents a high cost of supplies and medical personnel.

After very complex days, the province seems to have reached what is known as the epidemiological plateau, as shown by the figures of the last few days. Although it is still too early to speak of improvement and the reinforcement of the measures maintains its results, with discipline and cooperation we can begin to control the pandemic.

This assertion stood out in the words of the director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology Juan Jesús Llambías Peláez, who insisted that we are not in a comfort zone at all, but we must try to maintain the trend towards stability and the decrease in cases in Camagüey.

The specialist reported that the highest rate by municipalities continues in Camagüey with 146 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Guáimaro, Céspedes, Florida, Santa Cruz del Sur, Esmeralda and Nuevitas, in that order, some with a decreasing trend and others to the increase.

More than 300 people from Camagüey currently have the virus active, fifty suspects are hospitalized and 23 remain under surveillance, in addition to another 65 classified as lower risk suspects and 117 travelers from abroad, staying at the Plaza and América hotels, the School of Physical Education Teachers, facilities of the company Campismo Popular and on Santa Lucía beach.

More than 940 contacts of confirmed cases are isolated in centers for that purpose, on which Llambías specified that the province has sufficient capacities from the opening of new places in different municipalities of the territory, including the provincial capital.

He added that currently between 700 and 800 PCR tests are carried out daily in the Camagüey Molecular Biology Laboratory, with the possibility of processing more and supporting other provinces such as Las Tunas, which allows identifying a greater number of people in the shortest possible time and proceed more effectively.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez