On Monday, Russia sent Cuba a shipment of 20 tons of humanitarian aid, which includes medicines, multi-purpose protective suits, and syringes. This is the fifth shipment sent by President Vladimir Putin to the Caribbean island since December.
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Last year, Moscow also sent four AN-124 planes with food, medicine, supplies, and medical equipment to help the Cuban people alleviate the effects of situation prompted by the pandemic and the U.S. blockade.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked Putin for the international cooperation sent from Russia, a country that has proven to be a friend and strategic ally of the Cuban people.
Russian support for the island, however, goes beyond sending humanitarian aid shipments. Currently, four projects financed by the UNDP-Russia Development Trust Fund are advancing under the direction of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for an amount of US$5 million.
These projects are aimed at strengthening capacities, generating employment opportunities, and increasing resilience to disaster risks in Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, and Havana.
Due to the presence of the Omicron variant, Cuba is experiencing an increase in the daily number of COVID-19 cases. So far, however, 82.7 percent of the population has already received a complete schedule with locally produced vaccines.
As of Tuesday, the Health Ministry had administered 33.7 million doses of the Soberana 02, Soberana Plus, and Abdala vaccines.