People wearing masks walk on a street in Havana, Cuba, July 2, 2021. Cuba registered 3,308 new COVID-19 infections and 20 more deaths in the last 24 hours, both record numbers for one day, bringing the totals to 197,253 cases and 1,322 deaths, the Ministry of Public Health reported on Friday.Photo:Xinhua

 

People wearing masks walk on a street in Havana, Cuba, July 2, 2021. Cuba registered 3,308 new COVID-19 infections and 20 more deaths in the last 24 hours, both record numbers for one day, bringing the totals to 197,253 cases and 1,322 deaths, the Ministry of Public Health reported on Friday.Photo:Xinhua

Cuba registered 3,308 new COVID-19 infections and 20 more deaths in the last 24 hours, both record numbers for one day, bringing the totals to 197,253 cases and 1,322 deaths, the Ministry of Public Health reported on Friday.

The province of Matanzas recorded 916 new infections in the last day and continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic, with an incidence rate of 809.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.

This week, the government adopted new measures in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases, including the strengthening of epidemiological monitoring and the implementation of more rigorous international health controls.

Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal pointed out that the high rate of infection and the increase in the incidence rate in the last 15 days have been compounded by the circulation of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the ministry's emergency vaccination campaign against COVID-19 continues, as 6.13 million doses of Cuban vaccine candidates Abdala and Soberana-02 have been administered so far, with over 2.77 million Cubans receiving at least one dose.