Epidemiological behavior of COVID-19 in the early phase of the pandemic in Cuba

Abstract

COVID-19 to date has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the world, becoming one of the worst pandemics in history. It all started in the People's Republic of China and quickly spread to the rest of the world. In this article, we seek to characterize the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in Cuba during the first 80 days. For this article, we used observation and both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data. We relied on statistical methodologies to validate the research. The study covered the days between March 11 and May 29, 2020. We analyzed the daily reports published by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, this ministry's official website, and Cubadebate. Until May 29, the fifteen provinces of our country and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud had confirmed positive cases, while the epicenter of the epidemic was the province of Havana. The coronavirus pandemic is a considerable challenge for the whole of Cuban society. A free health system, an inclusive social regime, and extensive experience in fine-tuning policies were some of Cuba's main strengths in facing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.