The importance of surveillance in cases of and mortality from the COVID-19 epidemic in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2020

ABSTRACT:

Objectives:

This study aims to describe the actions carried out by the epidemiological surveillance system in Belo Horizonte to address the COVID-19 epidemic and the timeless of the data for detecting transmission in 2020.

Methods:

The sources of information used by the epidemiological surveillance of the municipality for COVID-19 were identified and the temporal distribution and interval for detection of confirmed cases of the disease were analyzed.

Results:

The city's epidemiological surveillance uses outpatient, hospital, public and private laboratory notifications as data sources. For reporting COVID-19 cases in official information systems, there is also an active search of laboratory results linked to suspected deaths investigated. From January to April 2020, 1,449 hospitalized cases of COVID-19 were reported, the first case being detected in late February 2020. Of the total 1,025 laboratory samples of cases hospitalized after the 8^th epidemiological week, 87 (8.5%) of COVID-19 cases were confirmed. The median time between the onset of symptoms and the release of laboratory results was 12 days for the analyzed period.

Conclusion:

Epidemiological surveillance uses several data sources to monitor and analyze the transmission of COVID-19. The timeliness of this system to detect cases of the disease is compromised by the delay in the release of laboratory results, which has been a considerable challenge for adequate surveillance.

Keywords:
COVID-19; Epidemiological monitoring; Evaluation study; Epidemics