Havana, Jul 15 (IANS): Cuba on Wednesday reported 51 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, the highest one-day death toll since the start of the outbreak.

The latest deaths raised the total pandemic death toll to 1,659, the Ministry of Public Health said, adding that 6,080 new Covid-19 infections detected in the same 24 hours brought the total number of cases to 256,607, Xinhua news agency reported.

Director of hygiene and epidemiology at the ministry Francisco Duran said that out of the new daily cases, 78 were infected abroad.

The western province of Matanzas is the current epicentre of the national outbreak, with 1,913 new daily cases, followed by Havana (658) and Santiago de Cuba (502).

Duran said the report reflects the high transmission rate and complexity of the pandemic across the country, with the exception of the Special Municipality of Isla de la Juventud, or Isle of Youth.

He also noted children and adolescents under 18 years of age are coming down with Covid-19.

"This requires the responsibility of each person, each family," said Duran, urging strict compliance with health protocols and social distancing measures due to the presence of more contagious variants.

Cuba has stepped up measures to control the spread of the pandemic, with restrictions on movement and the circulation of vehicles at night, and the closing of cultural and sports centres, as well as swimming pools and beaches.

Cuba has administered more than 7.6 million doses of Soberana and Abdala, nationally produced vaccines against Covid-19, with some 1.9 million people fully immunized with the three-dose vaccines.