COVID-19 pandemic in Uruguay: evolution, lessons learned and challenges

Abstract

America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic but the epidemic in Uruguay has had an atypical behavior compared to the region, with positive results in the management and control of the health crisis. This article describes the socio-sanitary characteristics of the country, the evolution of the pandemic, and the sanitary policies implemented, as well as the challenges to face the next stages. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the national health emergency was declared, the national emergency system was launched and a Coronavirus Fund was created to finance the required interventions. An outbreak mitigation strategy was implemented by recommending non-mandatory physical distancing. Likewise, the increase in diagnostic testing capacity through national developments, the management of suspected cases at the household level, and the implementation of telemedicine stand out. There is currently little community circulation of the virus. The largest increases in the number of cases have occurred mainly in clusters, institutional agglomerations, and small cities. In all these situations, index cases and contacts were quickly identified. An important role is attributed to the participation of the academic scientific community and the epidemiological surveillance system of the Ministry of Health, which has made it possible to effectively manage the outbreaks through surveillance and active search for cases.