2LT International News

HAVANA, Cuba: Amidst the recent surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant, and as doctors are rushing to administer locally-developed vaccines to its people, Cuba has turned to the military to help transport oxygen for critically ill patients.

During the latest surge, which witnessed record numbers of cases and deaths and overran provincial health services, the country’s main oxygen plant had broken down, the Cuban government announced on Sunday.

Meanwhile, President Miguel Diaz-Canel toured a military unit producing and transporting oxygen to COVID-19 patients, reported the official state media on Tuesday.

Diaz-Canel was seen on television inspecting three mobile military oxygen production plants, including a recently donated Russian unit. He also talked to military helicopter pilots delivering oxygen to hospitals in western and central provinces. “Your work is decisive,” he told them.

Similar scenes from eastern Cuba were seen last week.

Some 9,800 cases and 68 deaths were reported around the country on Monday, with daily averages over the previous 15 days being 8,891 new cases and 82 recorded deaths.

Cuba has reported a total of 536,609 cases and 4,023 deaths since the pandemic began, as of Monday.

Adding to its existing economic issues, the pandemic caused a scarcity of consumer goods and increased tensions in the Communist country, with many thousands protesting on the streets on 11th July, the most serious unrest since the 1959 Revolution.

Some patients and staff have complained about the quality of medical services on social media, in a country that takes pride in its free healthcare system.

Cuba has fully vaccinated more than 3.2 million people, and another 2 million are planned to get their second dose by September.

Cuba’s population of 11.2 million is being vaccinated with two locally-produced vaccines, Abdala and Soberana 2, which have claimed efficacy rates of over 90%.