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The province of Matanzas shows a downward trend in cases of arboviruses, including dengue, with a report of only 680 febrile patients in the last week.
According to the provincial health authorities, the number is well below the peak of 5,240 cases recorded weeks ago.
The director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology, Andrés Lamas Acevedo, explained at the most recent Provincial Sustainability meeting that, after reaching a peak of over five thousand fever cases, reports began to decline “by approximately 50% each week, until dropping to less than a thousand.”
He noted that the reactivity of dengue is also declining and that intensive actions have already been completed in the municipalities of Matanzas and Cárdenas, with the same work strategy being maintained in the rest of the provincial territories.
Despite the encouraging figures, authorities urged not to let their guard down. The first secretary of the Party in the province, Mario Sabines Lorenzo, warned that relaxing hygiene and health measures could quickly reverse the improvements.
“We need to ensure that the agencies stay clean; we must collect trash, a process that has regressed in Cárdenas. Hygiene must be maintained and monitored, because if not, we will find ourselves in an epidemic again tomorrow,” he emphasized, directly linking the accumulation of waste to the risk of a new outbreak of arboviral diseases.
In the meeting, the situation of acute respiratory diseases was also analyzed, which show an increase in medical attention, although still below the same period of the previous year.
It was reported that no municipality is in an epidemic situation, and that only Martí and Pedro Betancourt are on alert for exceeding the provincial rate in the last week.
Lamas emphasized that, along with clinical and epidemiological monitoring, the priority is to ensure that the healthcare system is prepared for seasonal peaks.
To address the respiratory scenario, authorities stated that the annual vaccination campaign against the flu has already begun, aimed at at-risk groups.
Regarding acute diarrheal diseases, it was reported that their prevalence is lower than in 2024, although several municipalities—among them Cárdenas, Jagüey, Perico, and Jovellanos—are showing an increase in cases that keeps health authorities on alert.
While official reports indicate an improvement in arboviral indicators, comments from citizens on social media reflect a more critical perception from the ground.
The chikungunya virus, which began in the province of Matanzas and whose danger was not recognized in time, has left aching bodies.
Matanzas residents indicate that many people continue to suffer from the aftereffects of the "terrible virus", experiencing intense and persistent pain, and question the discussion of a decline when, in their view, "almost the entire population has been infected" and what is actually observed is rather a widespread immunity that conceals the latent risk.
Other users report that Matanzas is once again filled with garbage, specifically mentioning the areas around the pediatric hospital and the street leading up to it as “a cemetery of trash”, and warn that, at the current rate, the province could be “the first to encounter the next virus caused by new insects and rodents.”
Comments like "too late to take action, now we are all infested and in pain" or "the entire province is infested, we already have number one in immunity" express a mix of skepticism and dissatisfaction towards institutional reports.
For these voices, the downward trend in the graphs does not erase the physical pain they endure, nor the concern about environmental pollution and the risk of new epidemics if waste collection and fumigation are not sustained over time.
The health crisis in Cuba
Dr. Francisco Durán García, national director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), acknowledged this Tuesday on state television that the reported figures of dengue and chikungunya infections by the regime "do not always correspond to reality", as many sick individuals do not seek medical services and, therefore, are not officially recorded.
Durán explained that the country is facing a "complex epidemiological situation" marked by the active circulation of dengue and the rapid spread of chikungunya throughout all the provinces.
According to the report, on the previous day, 1,706 patients with unspecified febrile syndrome were recorded, and 3,226 individuals were admitted, of which 84.1% remain under home care.
In total, 47,125 patients are currently hospitalized in health institutions.
The official acknowledged that chikungunya is currently the main health issue due to the number of infections and the severity of the symptoms.
Only on the previous day were 3,103 suspected cases reported, "although many are", a number that was described as “high for just one day.”
He detailed that the disease has a strong incidence in Camagüey, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Artemisa, Havana, Guantánamo, and Granma, provinces where transmission remains active.
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