Guantanamo province has 206 cholera cases and 475 dengue cases, over 100 of them "code red." Other eastern provinces, including Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba and Holguin, are also contending with serious cholera outbreaks. The whole province of Guantanamo may be quarantined; many individual town already have been.
Local sources says health officials are cleaning doorknobs in schools and stores and workplaces, and handing out soap for hand washing. Police and State Security agents are guarding the cholera wards in health centres and hospitals to keep news about the patients from getting out.
In Ernesto Guevara Hospital in Las Tunas, over 20 serious cases have been taken to an observation ward, again under police guard. A local school sent 12 of its pupils to hospital with cholera.
In Santiago de Cuba, over 50 cholera cases are in Ambrosio Grillo Hospital; the towns of La Maya and San Luis have confirmed over 200 cases in recent weeks. In Holguin province, at least 15 cases have been mentioned by independent sources in three towns.
