Increasing molecular diagnostic capacity and COVID-19 incidence in Brazil

Abstract

Different countries have adopted strategies for the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 since the declaration of community transmission by the World Health Organization (WHO) and timely diagnosis has been considered one of the major obstacles for surveillance and healthcare. Here, we report the increase of the number of laboratories to COVID-19 diagnosis in Brazil. Our results demonstrate an increase and decentralisation of certified laboratories, which does not match the much higher increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. Also, it becomes clear that laboratories are irregularly distributed over the country, with a concentration in the most developed state, São Paulo.

Keywords: COVID-19; diagnosis; epidemiology; infectious disease; laboratory tests.

Fig. 1.

Trends on SARS-CoV-2 infection and laboratory capacity in Brazil over one hundred days since first COVID-19 confirmed case. Section A shows the rate of certifications of public laboratories for the molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 by epidemiological week, in a Joinpoint Regression analyzes. Section B shows the rate of incidence of laboratory-confirmed cases by epidemiological week, also in a Joinpoint Regression analyzes. Section C shows temporal-spatial diffusion of COVID-19 in Brazil: warm colors designate early introduction (i.e. 12–14 epidemiological weeks), while cool colors designate recent introduction (i.e. 19–20 epidemiological week). Certified laboratories for SARS-CoV-2 infection molecular diagnosis are represented by squares in greyscale also in section C. The shades of grey range from the darkest for the three initial certified public health laboratories to the light grey representing those that were certified in later stages of the outbreak.