RT - The suffocating sanctions in place for almost six decades make it extremely difficult for the island nation to import essential supplies needed to battle the coronavirus, Cuban health officials say.

�The United States� economic-financial blockade is the most unfair, severe, prolonged system of sanctions of all time by one country against another,� Nestor Marimon, the Cuban Health Ministry�s international relations director, told reporters.

Imposed at the height of the Cold War, the American blockade has become �even more cruel and genocidal than it normally is... when we don�t have an epidemic,� he said, adding that it has severely hindered Cuba�s procurement of medical supplies on foreign markets, as cited by AFP.

It�s very difficult to buy equipment, supplies, medicines. We�re forced to buy them in far away markets that double, triple the costs and on many occasions they arrive late.

According to Marimon, the Health Ministry lost $160 million between April 2019 and March 2020 due to the sanctions, $60 million more than the year prior.

US sanctions have taken a toll on essential transactions related to the fight against coronavirus. Just last week, the delivery of Covid-19 test kits and ventilators donated by Alibaba founder Jack Ma was halted as the company feared breaking the embargo.

Top UN officials have issued a call for sanctions against Cuba and other countries to be lifted, including Iran and Venezuela, so they can obtain medical equipment and other supplies.

�The populations in these countries are in no way responsible for the policies being targeted by sanctions, and to varying degrees have already been living in a precarious situation for prolonged periods,� UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated last month.