More than 200 doctors from Cuba have finished their mandatory quarantine in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, and are ready for deployment.

After arriving in the country’s main city, Johannesburg, on 26 April, the team was under a two-week quarantine at a Pretoria hotel, local media report.

On Thursday, they issued a statement on the Cuban embassy’s website declaring they had ended their quarantine and are ready to embark on the “difficult task”.

“We have successfully completed, in both Cuba and South Africa, the strict periods of preventive quarantine and we are all fully ready to depart for the different provinces of the country and immediately begin the difficult but noble task that has been entrusted to us,” they said.

The US has criticised South Africa for accepting the doctors and accused Cuba of profiting from the pandemic – allegations the island nation denies.

Some South Africans have also criticised the move, arguing that local doctors should have been employed instead.