HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 23 (ACN) Cuba is currently registering the highest number of positive cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic. The Temporary Working Group for the control and prevention of the disease updated the medical protocol to be implemented in positives, suspects and contacts.
This protocol is unique and has normative character and national scope, that is, it is applied in all health institutions in the country at all levels of care.
However, it is flexible so that it can be adapted according to the clinical status of each patient and their evolution, and it is systematically updated according to new scientific evidence on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that appears in Cuba and the world”.
The protocol continues counting on two key scenarios: one preventive and the other for the care of patients infected with the virus. The actions to be initiated at the primary health level and those to be carried out in the centers for the isolation of positive patients are also kept, as well as everything related to the medical action in each case.
A few months ago, for the treatment of confirmed contacts, they were admitted to an isolation center for 14 days. If the diagnostic test, carried out on the fifth day, was negative, the patient was discharged and if positive, the patient moved on to another stage of the protocol.
However, in order to optimize the resources that the country has available to confront the pandemic, the current protocol proposes home isolation for 14 days under strict epidemiological surveillance to monitor the presence of symptoms.
All patients with symptoms associated with the disease used to be isolated or admitted depending on the severity of the disease. Now, confirmed low-risk patients will also remain at home where they will receive the corresponding care, while low-risk patients with moderate, medium and high-risk symptoms will be hospitalized in the institutions.
Regarding home admission, it was informed that those persons whose home does not meet the necessary conditions for isolation and treatment will not be able to do so.
Those who are part of dysfunctional families, whose medical office is located at a great distance and is difficult to access, so that daily clinical follow-up is not possible, will not be admitted at home either.
Pregnant and puerperal women, children under 12 years of age, children from 12 to 18 years of age with associated chronic pathologies and patients with chronic diseases will not be allowed to stay at home.
The main goal now is to control the pandemic which has a great spread due to the increase in the number of new strains. Let us remember that the Delta variant has a greater range of propagation; one sick person can infect more than six.
Therefore, building capacity in hospitals and isolation centers to care for the most vulnerable populations is a key task in the fight against the disease.
Once again, we call on the perception of risk and danger, along with citizen responsibility to guarantee the effectiveness of home admission and thus be able to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
