COVID-19: Cuban science continues to launch new lines of research
Yesterday, June 4, President Miguel Díaz-Canel held his weekly meeting with scientists and experts directly involved in the COVID-19 battle, who reported that 460 investigations, studies, interventions and clinical trials related to the epidemic are currently underway

Leticia Martínezjune 5, 2020 09:06:03

Photo: Alberto Borrego
Yesterday, June 4, President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez held his weekly meeting with scientists and experts directly involved in the COVID-19 battle, at the Revolution Palace, a gathering he described as encouraging.

This meeting, he said, shows that Cuban science is efficiently supporting national efforts against the disease and “has not stopped, is not satisfied with results that have proven to be very important, but rather launches new lines of research, while contributions and results continue to be consolidated.”

As part of the agenda, Dr. Pedro Más Bermejo presented an analysis of the evolution of the Oxford index of active cases in a number of countries including Cuba, Costa Rica, Uruguay and New Zealand, which are among the best performers in the Americas and the world. According to this index, which evaluates the response of governments to the pandemic, Cuba currently maintains a score of 100, while the other nations included in the comparison scored 69.4, 66.7 and 36.1, respectively, after relaxing some of the measures adopted.

In this regard, he noted, “Accelerating the de-escalation of measures, without strict control, in some of the countries studied produced an increase in active cases or the prolongation of the curve over time.”

Raúl Guinovart Díaz, dean of the University of Havana’s Mathematics and Computing Department, updated Cuba’s forecast model, stressing that since the last transmission events in Havana, “The active cases curve… remains within the limits of the favorable zone, but threatens to rise to the middle zone, although that would happen at the tail end of the epidemic.”

At another point during the meeting, Dr. Ileana Morales Suárez, director of science and technological innovation at the Public Health Ministry, reported that as of this June underway are 460 investigations, studies, interventions and clinical trials related to the epidemic in the country.

This week, she explained, there have been another four projects launched linked to genetic risk factors associated with the clinical severity of COVID-19; cancer and the new coronavirus; the standardization and application of artificial intelligence in radiological studies; and preventive intervention with Biomodulin T and Transfer Factor in COVID-19 patients with dialysis treatment.

Also reported during the meeting was the administration of the VA-MENGOC-BC vaccine, to strengthen innate immunity, to 18,528 residents in the Havana municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and Centro Habana, results of which are being evaluated; as well as work by the Historical Memory Commission to preserve documentation related to the pandemic in Cuba currently being generated.

The social sciences participated in the meeting with the President and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, as well, with Dr. Georgina Alfonso González explaining communities work underway to study and “strengthen the social, community and solidarity fabric in Cuba.”