Valentine's Day celebration in COVID-19 wards

For Rosa Garcia and her husband Alejandro Valdes, who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 at a health facility in Cuba, the 2021 Valentine's Day celebration has been unusual.

Garcia has spent less than a week at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in the outskirts of the country's capital Havana, where a COVID-19 ward was set up by local authorities.

The 56-year-old, who got infected with the virus at her company, had intended to prepare a special dinner and play some music as customary, but the virus ruined her plan.

Although she has not received a bunch of flowers, Teddy bears and postcards due to strict regulations at COVID-19 wards, she was not lonely "thanks to the support given by my husband, friends, nurses and doctors."

"I have felt accompanied today," she said. "Since very early in the morning, I have been receiving support messages from my husband, and speaking over the phone with my close relatives and workmates. I have not been alone, whatsoever."

Up to 4,800 active cases are currently receiving medical treatment at COVID-19 wards with 70 people in intensive care units across the island.

Cuba on Sunday reported 806 more cases and five more deaths, taking the national caseload to 38,289 and death toll to 266.

Of all the new cases, 387 were logged in Havana, which has registered nearly half of all new infections on the island over the past two weeks.

Garcia's husband Alejandro Valdes, a 61-year-old retired man, also tested positive. He joined his wife at the same ward.

"I got up early in the morning, walked to her bed and declared my love, which after 35 years of marriage remains intact," he told Xinhua. "We have been supporting each other during this difficult time."

According to new data released by the health ministry, this February is predicted to be the worst month in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba.

Consequently, local authorities in Havana have taken steps to increase the number of beds at COVID-19 wards and the capacity to diagnose patients infected with the virus nationwide.

Meanwhile, hundreds of frontline medical workers across the country have been away from their lovers and close friends on Valentine's Day.

Among them is Jose Alberto Rodriguez, a 35-year-old doctor at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute's COVID-19 ward, who went online to remind his wife, two kids, and friends of how much he loves them.

"Doctors and patients have been congratulating each other on Valentine's Day," he said. "We need to continue working hard to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic nationwide."

"Life inside a COVID-19 ward very much depends on love gestures," he added.