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by Yosley Carrero
HAVANA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Tuesday reported over 1,000 new daily cases of novel coronavirus infection for a second time in less than a week, after tests detected 1,044 new cases.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Public Health, a total of 28,636 people have tested positive for COVID-19, 22,921 have recovered and 218 people have died from the disease, two in the past day.
Of all new cases registered, 483 were reported in Havana, the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Caribbean nation, followed by the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.
Francisco Duran, national director of hygiene and epidemiology at the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, said that discipline and reinforcement of safety guidelines could help slow the spread of the epidemic around the country.
"Active participation of people and self-responsibility are more necessary than ever to address the sanitary emergency," he told a COVID-19 briefing.
Cuba will quarantine international travelers entering the country at isolation centers and hotels as of Feb. 6, and reduce the number of flights from the United States and some other Caribbean countries to no more than one per week per airline.
Currently, regulations on public transportation are in place to reduce people's mobility during night hours as universities from the country's hardest hit territories have postponed the start of the 2021 academic year.
At the moment, over 80 percent of the island's universities are being used as COVID-19 hospitals and isolation centers, according to local media reports.
Moreover, cultural and sports events remain canceled except Cuban National Baseball Series' postseason games, which are being played at bubble sites in the central provinces of Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus. Enditem