Cuba's Health Ministry on Tuesday (March 15) reported the first case of Zika contracted in the country, in a 21-year-old woman living in central Havana and who had not been overseas, Reuters reported.

Cuba's four previous cases of Zika all involved people who had contracted the virus while abroad.

Cuba reported its first case of Zika on March 2, making it one of the last countries in the Americas to encounter the virus. All four of the previous cases occurred in people who contracted Zika in Venezuela.

The Cuban woman first reported symptoms on March 7 and was hospitalised two days later, the Health Ministry said in a statement read on state television. The woman was diagnosed on Monday and remains in the hospital, without symptoms, the statement further said.

Zika, which is carried by mosquitoes that transmit the virus to humans, has been linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil that is spreading through Latin America and the Caribbean.

The World Health Organisation declared the Zika outbreak an international health emergency on Feb 1, citing a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a birth defect marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems.

However, much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly in babies.

(With inputs from Reuters)