Havana

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Cuba's electrical grid collapsed again on Sunday (Oct 20), the fourth such failure in 48 hours. Earlier on Sunday, the government said it was making headway restoring service after multiple false starts, though millions of people remained without electricity more than two days after the grid's initial collapse.

The repeated grid collapses marked a major setback in the government's efforts to quickly restore power to exhausted residents already suffering from severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel, a report by the news agency Reuters said.

The multiple setbacks in the first 48 hours also underscored the complexity of the work and the still precarious state of the country's grid. 

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The government has blamed weeks of worsening blackouts - as long as 10 to 20 hours a day - on deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand. 

Grid to be fully functional by today or tomorrow

Addressing a press conference, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said that he expected the grid to be fully functional by Monday or Tuesday but warned residents not to expect dramatic improvements.

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Minister O Levy said the blackouts were bothersome to residents, but he said most Cubans understood and supported government efforts to restore power.

"It is Cuban culture to cooperate. Those isolated and minimal incidents that do exist, we catalogue them as incorrect, as indecent," he added. 

Cuba had restored power to 160,000 clients in Havana just before the grid's Sunday collapse, giving some residents a glimmer of hope, Reuters reported.

Internet traffic dropped off sharply in Cuba over the weekend, according to data from internet monitoring group NetBlocks, as vast power outages made it all but impossible for most island residents to charge phones and get online. 

A warning to those causing public disturbance

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned on Sunday that his government would not tolerate public disturbances following the nationwide power outage. 

Diaz-Canel told a televised news program that some people had tried to "disturb public order" on Saturday, and that those responsible would be dealt with "severely."

(With inputs from agencies)