More than 1,330 fast diagnostic kits to detect positive cases for COVID-19 are applied in this eastern province, an action that provides the opportunity to identify more cases and stop a possible spread.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- The test is carried out on travelers, patients suspected of the disease and their contacts. Here, in addition, there also is available for those who suffer from severe acute respiratory infections.
The director of the Provincial Center of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology Diego Julián Dopazo explained to 26Digital that these tests are based on the detection of antibodies that suggest exposure to the virus. This offers the possibility of opportunely taking the sample from the positive cases for the PCR that will confirm or not the diagnosis in the Santiago laboratory.
“In those who are negative, the infection is not completely ruled out; even when it has a high-reliability percentage. Its importance is that it allows the early detection of COVID-19, and would give us the possibility of isolating them, and containing the spread of the disease.”
Up to the last closure here, a total of 242 real-time PCR samples had been performed. Yesterday, 44 results arrived, all negative for the disease, and today six samples were sent.
Health authorities report that the three patients reported with the disease maintain a favorable evolution and are assisted by professionals from the province of Holguín.
On the other hand, 111 people with a suspicion of suffering the disease remain in the Local Isolation Centers; two of them are treated at the Ernesto Guevara hospital and three at the Mártires de Las Tunas Pediatric Hospital. At the Lenin campus of the University, 38 suspect contacts are controlled.
A total of 377 nationals who arrived from other countries are monitored, 83 of them are isolated in the centers designated for this purpose, and 294 are controlled by the basic health teams in the communities.
Today the active inquiries for the identification of inhabitants with respiratory infections and the surveillance of suspects and their contacts constitute strengths in this eastern territory, which up to now continues with a stable sanitary panorama. However, part of the population must still gain in risk perception because nobody is immune to this virus, and there are examples of so many nations that feel the fury of its excessive spread.
