Abstract
BackgroundOn June 21st de-escalation measures and state-of-alarm ended in Spain after the COVID-19 first wave. New surveillance and control strategy was set up to detect emerging outbreaks.AimTo detect and describe the evolution of COVID-19 clusters and cases during the 2020 summer in Spain.MethodsA near-real time surveillance system to detect active clusters of COVID-19 was developed based on Kulldorf’s prospective space-time scan statistic (STSS) to detect daily emerging active clusters.ResultsAnalyses were performed daily during the summer 2020 (June 21st – August 31st) in Spain, showing an increase of active clusters and municipalities affected. Spread happened in the study period from a few, low-cases, regional-located clusters in June to a nationwide distribution of bigger clusters encompassing a higher average number of municipalities and total cases by end-August.ConclusionSTSS-based surveillance of COVID-19 can be of utility in a low-incidence scenario to help tackle emerging outbreaks that could potentially drive a widespread transmission. If that happens, spatial trends and disease distribution can be followed with this method. Finally, cluster aggregation in space and time, as observed in our results, could suggest the occurrence of community transmission.
Highlights
On June 21st de-escalation measures and state-of-alarm ended in Spain after the COVID-19 first wave
Following de-escalation, new challenges arose and the focus shifted from curve bending to outbreak and transmission chain control under the Control and Surveillance Strategy in the transition phase of Rosillo et al BMC Public Health (2021) 21:961 the COVID-19 pandemic implemented by the Ministry of Health of Spain [5]
Epidemic curve and cluster evolution during 2020 summer From June 21st to August 31st, a total of 257,881 COVID-19 cases were registered through Spanish National Epidemiological Surveillance Network (RENAVE)
Summary
On June 21st de-escalation measures and state-of-alarm ended in Spain after the COVID-19 first wave. With the lifting of measures, small outbreaks began to occur, at first related to vulnerable collectives, such as workers from agriculture or meat-processing factories as happened in other parts of Europe, related to poor living conditions, low socioeconomic status and marginalized collectives [6]. These outbreaks progressively grew in cases and locations affected and, eventually, community transmission was suspected. By August, the number of daily new cases had greatly increased [7], and new control measures were reevaluated, ranging from limiting social gatherings up to small-contained lockdowns
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
