HAVANA - Cuban health authorities began on Saturday to apply restrictions on commercial flights and arriving passengers, who will have to submit to a period of isolation and testing to prevent further transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The facilities now present in all Cuban provinces where travelers will be quarantined are ready, the government reported at a meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus, headed by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Starting Saturday, travelers arriving in Cuba will be kept in isolation centers until the results of their PCR tests arrive.

Additionally, on Saturday, the frequency of flights from the United States, Mexico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Colombia were reduced. The resumption of increased flights from Nicaragua, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname will also be suspended, and flights from Haiti will be suspended.

Operations at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, the largest in the country, have been limited to Terminal Three.

Cuba has accumulated 233 deaths and 32,011 cases of COVID-19 to date.