Cuba to quarantine int'l passengers amid surging COVID-19 cases

HAVANA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Saturday set a new COVID-19 daily case record of 910 infections as the government announced quarantine measures for international passengers starting on Feb. 6.

Under the new regulations, Cubans with residency on the island will be quarantined for free in isolation centers set up by the local authorities across the country.

Meanwhile, international travelers will be required to pay for their accommodation and logistics at hotels during the quarantine period.

Among the new rules, the country will also reduce flights from the United States, Mexico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Colombia.

In a similar vein, the suspension of flights from Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua, Guyana and Suriname continues in effect while arrivals from Haiti will be canceled.

The island restarted scheduled commercial flights on Nov. 15, when Havana's Jose Marti International Airport resumed operations after being closed for more than seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the ministry of public health, January has been the worst month in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba, with 67 deaths and 13,618 infections registered so far.

Francisco Duran, national director of hygiene and epidemiology at the ministry, said this disease is highly contagious and urged people to step up safety guidelines to protect from the virus.

"We have no doubt that with the participation of people we will achieve the health indicators we had before the outbreak," he said during a COVID-19 daily briefing.

Cuba, home to 11 million inhabitants, has recorded 25,674 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 213 deaths since the pandemic began.