The doctor Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology for the Ministry of Public Health, informed in a press conference that by the end of yesterday, March 18th, 735 cases were confirmed as positive to COVID-19, for a total 65 149.

To date, 387 deceased were reported (three within the day), 753 were discharged (also within the day), 3 375 (5.5%) were confirmed, of which 3 500 have a clinically stable course, and we arrive to 61 131 (93.8%) people medically and epidemiologically discharged. There are 30 patients in a critical state and 45 in a serious one.

Of those diagnosed, 396 are residents of the capital, of which 389 are autochthonous and 7 imported. Due to the increase in the case amount, the presence, dispersion, and rising tendency in all municipalities, the province will continue to be in the epidemiological phase know as Limited Local Transmission Stage, also having the highest incidence rate which is 278%, being lower than the one of the day before.

The most affected municipalities of the capital were: Diez de Octubre (60), Habana del Este (50), Arroyo Naranjo (30), Cerro y San Miguel del Padrón (29 cada uno), Centro Habana (27), La Lisa (26), Boyeros (24), Habana Vieja (22), Playa (21), Marianao (20), Guanabacoa and Plaza de la Revolución (19 each), Cotorro (11), and Regla (9).

Ten of these municipalities are among the twelve where the 47.6% of the COVID-19 incidence has been located in the last 15 days. These territories are: Habana Vieja (481.5%), Regla (412.8%), Guanabacoa (387.8%), Centro Habana (367.1%), San Miguel del Padrón (360.2%), Cotorro (356.4%), Cerro (313.8%), Habana del Este (284.7%), Diez de Octubre (279.5%), and Arroyo Naranjo (268.9%).

The other confirmed cases belong to other provinces like Santiago de Cuba (93), Granma (62), Pinar del Rio (49), Camagüey (33),  Artemisa (26), Sancti Spíritus (22), Holguín (19), Guantánamo (16), Matanzas (9), Villa Clara (8), Las Tunas (6), Holguín, Ciego de Ávila and Mayabeque (4 each), and Cienfuegos (3).  

For the COVID-19, 19 381 samples were analyzed, and 735 were positive. The country has had a total of 749 686 samples analyzed, and 65 148 of these were positive (2.37%).

709 (96.5%) out of the total of confirmed cases were contacts of other confirmed ones, for a total of 59 701 (91.6%); 10 (1.4%) of these were infected abroad for another total of 4 948 (7.7%), and 16 (2.2%) were infected by an undetermined source.

This Thursday’s autochthonous cases were a total 725, and 10 were imported. A total of 395 (53.7%) of these were female and 340 (46.3%) were male.

A total of 20 975 patients are still hospitalized under clinical and epidemiological surveillance, 3 709 are suspected cases, 13 691 are under surveillance, and 3 575 (5.5%) have been confirmed, of which 3 500 have a stable clinical course.

The 50.2% (369) of the 735 positive cases were asymptomatic, for a total of 34 340, which represents the 52.7% of all the confirmed cases to date.

The 735 diagnosed belong to the following age groups: 130 below the age of 20 years old; 206 between 20 and 39 years old; 243 between 40 and 59 years old, and 156 above 60 years old. 

COVID-19 fatality rate in Cuba, until March 18th, is 0.60% per one million inhabitants, lower than that of the whole world (2.20%) and the one of the American continent (2.39%).

Confirmed cases divided according to municipality:

Havana: 396 cases

Diez de Octubre: (60) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Arroyo Naranjo: (30) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Boyeros: (24) (22 were contacts of confirmed cases and 2 were imported)

Centro Habana: (27) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Cerro: (29) (28 were contacts of confirmed cases and 1 was imported)

Cotorro: (11) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Guanabacoa: (19) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Habana del Este: (50) (48 were contacts of confirmed cases and 2 were imported)

Habana Vieja: (22) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

La Lisa: (26) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Marianao: (20) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Playa: (21) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Plaza de la Revolución: (19) (18 were contacts of confirmed cases and 1 was imported)

Regla: (9) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

San Miguel del Padrón: (29) (all contacts of confirmed cases)

Until March 18th, it is confirmed that 190 countries and 29 territories present COVID-19 cases. There is a total of 121 967 960 confirmed cases (+ 475 740) with 20 984 360 active cases, and 2 695 171 deceased (+ 9 713) for a fatality rate of 2.20 (-0.01).

In the American continent, 54 372 351 cases were reported (+ 201 805), which is a 44.57% of the total amount of cases confirmed worldwide, with 9 315 704 active and 1 303 264 deceased (+ 5 539) for a fatality rate of 2.39 (=).

The Digital News Portal of the Government of Havana/YG