Cuban healthworker tests positive in Andorra: ministry

A member of the 39-strong team of Cuban doctors and nurses in Andorra to help fight the coronavirus has tested positive for the virus, the health ministry revealed Wednesday.

He has been placed in isolation while officials decide how to protect against possible further contamination from the rest of the Cuban team to avoid losing their medical skills completely.

The man arrived Monday morning with the Cuban team of 12 doctors and 27 nurses after Andorra had asked Havana for support.

Around 60 of the principality's doctors are already under quarantine while being checked to see if they are infected, said Health Minister Joan Martinez Benazet.

The whole Cuban delegation was screened for the virus on their arrival, before undergoing initial training on Tuesday.

Havana has long sent Cuba's doctors to help other countries: payment for their services is one of the engines of its economy, which has suffered almost six decades of crippling US sanctions.

Andorra is the European second country, after Italy, to receive their help.

Andorra, a landlocked principality between Spain and France with a population of 77,000, counted 12 dead on Tuesday from the virus.