Premier Andrew Fahie said the territory, through the Ministry of Health and the International Affairs Secretariat of the Premier’s Office, solicited the help of 30 doctors through talks with the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) as well as the Government of Cuba.

“I am pleased to say that the team is ready to come to the BVI,” Fahie said in a statement on March 28.

The Premier further said his administration is now awaiting the United Kingdom to ‘support’ the territory’s request for this ‘invaluable assistance’ from the Government of Cuba.

He did not specify whether this support would come in the form of financial assistance or otherwise.

Meanwhile, the moved to invite Cuba’s assistance comes at a time when the BVI has confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 and while it awaits the test results of nine other suspected cases.

Cuba helping other countries

The Cuban government has deployed doctors and other medical staff to Italy, Dominica, Belize, Antigua & Barbuda, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Jamaica to assist those nations in their battle against COVID-19.

Cuba has been widely known as a mecca for some of the best doctors in the world and has lent medical assistance during serval previous disasters around the world.

The Cuban medical brigade has assisted countries in the past with the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014 in West Africa, which was the largest ever recorded in history according to the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention.