COVID in Cuba: The major oxygen plant collapses, efforts underway to fix

Havana, Cuba: Cuba's public health minister said efforts are underway to reopen the country's main oxygen plant, which was not functional even when the death toll from COVID-19 reached a 98 on Saturday.

Minister Jose Angel Portal's appearance on the State Noon News News program came as the Delta-driven rise of coronavirus cases and deaths overwhelmed some provincial health services.

As per data, Cuba reported 577,668 and over 4,023 deaths on Saturday.

The health crisis has led to a shortage of medicines and broken nerves of the communist-led country. Last month, thousands took to the streets to protest the first unrest since the early days of the 1959 revolution.

Residents and some medical staff have complained on social media about the treatment in a country that is proud of the quality of its free healthcare system.

The country of 11.2 million inhabitants has fully vaccinated three million with domestic made coronavirus vaccines, with another two million expected to get one last shot before September.

Last week, official comments apparently accused health workers of collapsing health services, provoking an unusual retreat on social media with doctors accusing the government of a lack of supplies and poor management.

On Sunday, the portal took pains to praise "the work of our healthcare professionals on the front lines" while admitting that there is a shortage of various medicines to treat COVID patients, 80% of which are locally produced.

The Cuba Health Minister said a high commission would do everything possible to compensate for the lack of oxygen without specifying when the main facility would come back to life.

The recent sanctions by the United States are also to be blamed for a lack of medical supplies in Cuba. The country is experiencing a shortage of medical equipments, medicines and even Azithromycin, an antibiotic drug being used to treat coronavirus patients.