(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Havana’s governor announced an overnight curfew, ban on travel from the Cuban capital to other provinces and greater restrictions on the circulation of vehicles on Thursday in a bid to curb a new peak in coronavirus cases.
The new measures will come into effect on Sept. 1 for 15 days, Reinaldo García Zapata said on state television, at which point the situation will be re-assessed.
Cuba had mostly contained its novel coronavirus outbreak by the end of June, by isolating patients and conducting rigorous contact tracing, and eased lockdown restrictions.
But it tightened them again six weeks later after cases jumped again, especially in Havana, albeit allowing domestic tourism over the summer as long as would-be vacationers took a coronavirus test before heading out.
That loophole is now over, in the wake of the spread of infection from Havana to other provinces, as is freedom of movement from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., the first curfew since the crisis began.
(Reuters)
