Summary

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Patrick Oppmann
Havana, Cuba

March 22, 2020

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STARTING TOMORROW (TUESDAY), NO TOURISTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL TO CUBA
THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT IS CLOSING ITS BORDERS TO COMBAT THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS ON THE ISLAND - WHERE ONE FIFTH OF THE POPULATION IS 60 OR OLDER
CNN'S PATRICK OPPMANN REPORTS FROM HAVANA

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Patrick Oppmann: The Cuban government has announced a series of tough new measures to stem the spread of coronavirus on this Island Starting on Tuesday Tourists will no longer be allowed to travel to Cuba If you are a Cuban citizen or like me, a resident of Cuba, when you get to the airport, if you're traveling here, once you arrive in Havana or any other part of this Island, you'll be sent to go to 14 days of quarantine at a Cuban hospital or an institution like that You will not be allowed to go to your house You have to go and spend 14 days under lock and key of quarantine and the government says they hope by limiting the number of people entering the island that they will also limit the amount of coronavirus that has been brought here The first cases that the Island has announced, they said came from tourists who are coming from abroad that had been sick, perhaps didn't realize they were carrying coronavirus beyond, but then managed to infect other people here So the idea is for 30 days Cuban officials will be able to focus on the cases that are already here And we've seen a sudden growth over the last few days of the cases on the Island and that by wiping out the cases of coronavirus that are already on the Island, that they will keep it from spreading further Cuba has a number of vulnerable people, at risk people 20% of this Island is 60 years or older Many people have health problems here There's a high group, high number of people who smoke here that have diabetes and other diseases that do make you more vulnerable to Coronavirus A lot of people use public transport When you go to markets, people tend to line up for hours or more to buy the few items that you find here So there -- if there was an outbreak here, it could be very, very serious Cuba is not just focusing on coronavirus here, but on the region and around the world They are sending doctors as far away as Italy to help other countries combat the spread of coronavirus Residents that I've talked to here - while they are aware that of course by limiting tourism, by cutting off tourism, that that's going to have a big impact on Cubans that have restaurants, that have Airbnbs, that work in hotels, but many of the Cubans that I've spoke to have said, these are necessary measures that the spread of the virus here would have such an impact if it got out of control So even though that these measures are going to have a big impact on the economy, many people I've talked to said it was the right thing to do Their only concern is whether the Cuban government has acted soon enough Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana, Cuba

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--KEYWORD TAGS--
COVID CORONAVIRUS CUBA TOURIST BORDER