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News > Cuba

Cuba Detects Its First Omicron COVID-19 Case

  • Citizens walk down a street, Havana, Cuba, 2021.

    Citizens walk down a street, Havana, Cuba, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @Yaritza47316778

Published 9 December 2021
Opinion

Health officials identified 18 people with whom the traveler may have been in contact since arriving in the country, but all of them tested negative for COVID-19. 

On Thursday, the Tropical Medicine Institute Pedro Kouri (IPK) detected the first Omicron case in Cuba. The infection was found in a health worker who arrived from Mozambique without COVID-19 symptoms on Nov. 27. 

RELATED: 

Cuban Vaccine Soberana Plus Authorized for Kids Who Got COVID

The traveler, who resides in Pinar del Rio province, developed fever and sore throat the following day. Later, a sample of his COVID-19 test was taken to the IPK, which confirmed the Omicron-related infection.

Health officials identified 18 people with whom he may have been in contact since arriving in the country, but all of them remain asymptomatic and tested negative for the virus.

After spending five days in a hospital, the patient was discharged on Thursday since he tested negative for a PCR test and did not present any more coronavirus symptoms. 

Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) Director Vicente Verez announced that his institution is currently developing a Sovereign Plus vaccine variant, which will contain the Omicron strain's RBD protein to train the human immune system to fight against it.

"Cuban scientists are prepared to put our country at the forefront of efforts to fight the pandemic," Verez stressed. So far, Cuba is the only Latin American nation that produces its own coronavirus vaccines: Sovereign 02, Sovereign Plus, and Abdala. 

These vaccines have been successfully applied to over 90 percent of the population —including children over 2 years of age— and are being exported to Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Vietnam.

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Vicente Verez
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