by Yosley Carrero
HAVANA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Ana Perez for the first time in years did not go anywhere during May Day amid the country's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 nationwide.
The 52-year-old English professor lives with her husband and sons in an apartment in Alamar district, on the outskirts of Cuba's capital Havana.
Perez, who along with her family usually participates in May Day parades at the Revolution Square, started her day by hanging the Cuban flag on her balcony as a symbol of national unity.
"The best way to support the government at the moment is by keeping social distancing. Better times shall come. We will certainly go back to the squares," she said.
Like Perez, following the motto "My house is my square," thousands of Cubans across the country celebrated the International Workers' Day from home in line with COVID-19 restrictions.
However, nearly 494,000 health professionals spent the day at hospitals and polyclinics across the country in the context of COVID-19.
"Duty calls. The best way to mark the International Workers' Day is hard work, not parties," Leinier Gonzalez, a doctor at an isolation center in Havana, told Xinhua by phone.
Meanwhile, the streets of the country were embellished with flags while state institutions' front doors showed banners with images of Cuban revolution heroes and martyrs.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel congratulated the country's workers, saying neither blockade or terrorist attacks will cow Cubans.
"We celebrate the International Workers' Day by saving lives and following the legacy of our Commander-in-chief Fidel Castro," he said on Twitter.
The Caribbean nation has nearly 4.4 million workers, 1.4 million of whom are working in the private sector.
Ulises Guillarte de Nascimento, secretary general of the country's workers trade union CTC, noted the importance of those people who are serving in sectors considered essential during the outbreak of COVID-19.
"May Day celebration is a symbol of endurance of peoples. We will beat the coronavirus," he said.
Massive gatherings on the occasion of the International Workers' Day are customary all over the country since the socialist revolution victory in 1959.
The May Day parade at Havana's Revolution Square annually gathers hundreds of thousands of Cuban nationals as well as social activists and trade union leaders from across the world. Enditem
