by Yosley Carrero

HAVANA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- With a two-week nightly curfew, the Cuban government on Tuesday stepped up lockdown restrictions in the country's capital after new COVID-19 cases surged over the past few weeks.

Starting Tuesday, Havana is under a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. Most stores are barred from selling to shoppers from outside the immediate neighborhood in order to discourage people from moving around the city.

Mary Cruz, who runs a private business in Luyano district, closed her cafeteria earlier than usual to get home before the curfew went into effect.

"Of course, the curfew affects my earnings, but now it is all a matter of health," she told Xinhua. "If we work hard, Havana will once again be the city that never sleeps."

Also, police officers, community leaders and representatives of social organizations checked the fulfillment of the precautionary measures at the very heart of the Cuban capital's neighborhoods.

"Responsibility is what health professionals need from us. That is the best way to help them," said Havana resident Lazaro Garriga standing at his balcony as he joined neighbors in applauding world doctors and nurses combating the pandemic, which has become a routine courtesy every night at 9 o'clock in Havana.

Meanwhile, checkpoints on borders between the capital and the rest of the country were reinforced as more than 1.7 million pupils outside Havana have returned to school for the first time since March.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel urged provincial authorities in Havana to rigorously implement measures taken to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic on the island's largest city.

"There are many asymptomatic carriers of the virus in the streets, who have not been detected, and subsequently are infecting the population," he said.

New coronavirus cases dropped to zero in Cuba on July 20 for the first time after the onset of the pandemic, but have been surging since July 24 to date.

Havana, the country's epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has so far recorded the majority of confirmed cases over the past two weeks, followed by the neighboring province of Artemisa.

Residents in Havana have been barred from visiting seaside resorts across the country as long as the current pandemic situation persists.

On top of that, locals are limited to buying basics in nearby stores in a bid to restrict urban mobility and avoid long queues provoked by the U.S. economic sanctions against the island.

Currently, thousands of tests are carried out every day in Havana's hardest-hit areas where doctors and nurses are going door-to-door in search of asymptomatic carriers and suspected cases.

Jose Alberto Rodriguez, a Cuban frontline doctor at a COVID-19 hospital in Havana, said that measures adopted by the government are on the right track and more discipline is required to tackle the health emergency.

"We have always been here and will continue to save lives from the virus," he said. "The fight against the pandemic is not over."

So far, Cuba has registered 95 COVID-19 deaths, with 33 new cases confirmed on Tuesday, bringing the total to 4,065. Enditem

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