Caution has always been a recommended concept for forecasts and overconfidence. A week ago, we said that the province seemed to have experienced its epidemic peak, but the last seven days (at the end of January 25) say otherwise.

During that period, 1,517 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were reported here, presumably with its omicron variant, which is considered already prevalent in the country. This number of autochthonous cases represents a slight increase (+84) compared to the previous week, when 1,433 had been counted.

As we have insisted, the rise in contagion could cause an increase in lethality, even though preliminary research on the omicron variant indicates that it is less severe than its predecessors are. Between Saturday the 22nd and Tuesday the 25th, seven Ciego de Ávila`s citizens died from COVID-19 and there are already 12 in the month of January (close to 30 percent of the national total), which again places the territory in the spotlight.

It is just a fact, very sad indeed, that illustrates why not underestimate the impacts of the disease. Older people and people with comorbidities always had to lose against the virus and that does not change with the new variant. In fact, the number of patients reported as serious and critical does not tend to zero.

For Cuba, the month of January is showing a higher number of infections than in June of last year, when the country was entering the most tense moment of the epidemic. Not in vain José Ángel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health, commented on his social networks the behavior and trends at the end of the third week of 2022. “The greater the number of infections, the greater the possibility of getting sick and that the most vulnerable die. Protecting ourselves continues to be key to cutting roads to the epidemic,” he warned.

The good news of the week comes from the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), where preliminary research in vaccinated with Soberana and Abdala show high percentages of seroconversion against omicron. "Or what is the same: our vaccines have the capacity to generate antibodies against this new variant of the virus," said Portal Miranda in another publication.

The investigation revealed that 90 percent of those vaccinated with Soberana 02 and Abdala had seroconversion, while for those who were reinforced with Soberana 01 and Abdala, the generation of specific antibodies occurred in 100 percent of the cases studied. One more reason to put the arm to booster doses.