Cuba Confirms Second Case of Covid-19 Imported from Nicaragua

The Cuban citizen arrived to the island from Managua on March 23 and began presenting symptoms on March 31. Her condition is stable.

By Maynor Salazar (Confidencial)

HAVANA TIMES – A week after registering the first case of covid-19 coming from Nicaragua, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) reported on Friday, April 3, a second positive case from the Central American country.

The patient is a 38-year-old woman who arrived on the island on March 23 and began presenting symptoms on March 31.

According to official information, published on the Minsap website, the citizen is a resident of the Old Havana municipality, in the heart of the Cuban capital. She was sent from the Cojimar isolation center to the “Luis Diaz Soto” Hospital. The patient maintains satisfactory evolution so far, said the authorities who noted that 14 persons who had contact with her are under surveillance.

This would then be the second “imported” case from Nicaragua received by Cuba. The first was a 54-year-old Cuban woman, who was in Nicaragua until March 16 and ten days later presented the symptoms of covid-19.

According to the medical report, the woman is a resident of the Santa Clara municipality, Villa Clara province. On March 26, she was admitted to the Manuel Fajardo Hospital and “maintains satisfactory evolution so far.” Likewise, ten other people who were in contact with the woman are being watched.

This week on the Nicaraguan Channel 10 interview program, the now newly appointed Minister of Health, Martha Reyes, contradicted her Havana counterparts, denying that a first case had been “exported” from Nicaragua to Cuba. Thus far, Minsa has not confirmed or denied the second case reported by Cuba.

Referring to the first patient she said: “I imagine that they are reviewing the case because in the information we had, she left Managua on the 16th and the first case that we have reported was the 18th and we’ve had no more than the four imported cases”, said Reyes in the interview.

The minister insisted that the Cuban citizen could not have been infected in Nicaragua. “I cannot say that they are mistaken (Cuban authorities), but in our case we are confident of the surveillance carried out through diagnosis by our people trained in Mexico,” Reyes said.

To date, Nicaragua maintains there are five confirmed positive cases, one death and a dozen citizens under monitoring. Secrecy is government policy, which does not offer any type of information, like the daily reports in Cuba, despite the demand and questioning of civil society and the media.