El primer puente de peaje construido sobre el puerto de Willemstad, Curazao, en 1888 era gratuito para quienes no tuvieran zapatos. Hoy es gratis para todo el que desee cruzarlo
As a result of the coordination between Cuban and British authorities, the transfer of the passengers of the British cruise ship MS Braemar, which Cuba decided to host, was carried out this Wednesday, after the refusal of entry in several Caribbean ports.
The decisión comes in response to a health emergency, in which there could be a risk to the sick person, because the ship spent days looking for a place to dock, with more tan 600 passengers and at least five confirmed cases of coronavirus on board.
All measures have been taken for the safe, hospitable and expeditious transfer of the ship´s passengers and crew, with more tan a thousand people on board, who will be taking chárter flights from British Airlines.
On March 13th, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland requested the Cuban authorities to allow the docking of the Fred Olsen cruise ship, with a small number of travelers affected by the new coronavirus (SARS CoV2/Covid-19), at a Cuban port and repatriate them by air.
The operation is carried out under the protocols established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP). José Raúl de Armas, head of the MINSAP´s Communicable Diseases Departament, in a press conference ruled out the possibility of contagion, since the countr has prepared with all the material, human and technological resources to carry out a rapid and precise evacuation to resolve the situation of the cruise ship, to which other countries denied it access.
Dominic Raab, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland, thanked the Cuban government on Tuesday for allowing this operation to take place quicklyand forits close coopeartion to ensure its success.
British Newspaper praises Cuba´s worldwide solidarity with COVID-19.
The British newspaper The Independent today called Cuba´s gesture of welcoming UK cruise ship with several cases of Covid-19 on board a ¨true sign of global solidarity¨. According to the newspaper, the Cuban government acted altruistically to the request made by its British counterpart, after several countries, including the United States, refused to allow the entry of the ship carrying more tan a thousand people.
After noting that the decisión was taken despite the fact that the arrival of MS Braemar could even increase the number of Covid-19 cases on the Caribbean Island, where there are only seven infections so far, The Independent stressed that this is not the first time Cuba has supported the world in an emergency.
In this regard, it recalled the praise receivedby Cuban doctors who went to combat teh Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, or when they ¨embarrased¨other countries with their forceful response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
The publication with national circulation also highlights that since the triumph of Rvolution in 1959, Cuban Health prfessionals have traveled the world to help in cases of crisis and humanitarian situations, despite the economic pressures imposed by The United States.
Even that Cuban health program is being threatened by the administration of President Donald Trump, says The Independent, which believes that the new coronavirus pandemic should serve to unite the world in the fight against the disease.
The newspaper compares the attitude adopted by the small Caribbean island to the attempst of the U.S private health system to benefit economically from the Covid-19 oubreak, and its inability to provide the population with the necessary tests to detect the virus.
Instead of fighting to close borders and fuel xenophobia by referring to coronavirus as the ¨Chinese virus¨, the president Trump should take this opportunity to show that he is truly capable of leading, the publication said.
According to the article, it is no longer a question of making the United States great again, and if Trump misses it, other countries have already shown that they are willing to step foward.
The day before, the British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, thanked the British Parliament for Cuba´s gesture of allowing the cruise ship to dock and helping with the repatriation of the tourists and crew members on board.
According to what was reported here, the passengers of MS Braemar will leave tonight from Havana to London in four planes chartered by the British government, although Cuba offered to provide medical care to those patients who are unable to travel. With information from ACN news and Prensa Latina.
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El primer puente de peaje construido sobre el puerto de Willemstad, Curazao, en 1888 era gratuito para quienes no tuvieran zapatos. Hoy es gratis para todo el que desee cruzarlo
