An assessment of the public health surveillance strategy based on molecular testing during three major pandemic waves of COVID-19 in Brazil.

A national laboratory-based surveillance system was adapted to monitor the situation of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil. The objective of the study was to compare the challenges in implementing COVID-19 surveillance strategies based on the Ministry of Health's (MoH) distribution of RT-PCR tests to different types of laboratories. This retrospective study analyzed the MoH's testing policies and distribution of RT-PCR tests to laboratories during the first, second, and third waves. Recipient laboratories were divided into groups: public health laboratories that belonged to the national network of public health laboratories (Group 1); public laboratories granted authorization during the pandemic (Group 2); and High-Capacity Testing Centers (Group 3). We analyzed the timing and duration of COVID-19 testing policies and the allocation of tests to laboratories by group and wave. Using t-tests, we analyzed the difference in the weekly average of tests distributed to labs by group and using Pearson's correlation coefficient, analyzed the test distribution according to infection and death rates. Between epiweek 9, 2020, and epiweek 22, 2022, the MoH distributed an average of 263,004 RT-PCR tests per week. The weekly average of tests distributed was highest in the second wave (310,327 tests), followed by the first (218,005 tests) and third waves (201,226 tests). There was a significant increase in the mean weekly tests distributed in the second wave compared to the first and third waves (p = 0.047; IC 8.29-1110.71). We found a significant difference between the weekly average of tests distributed in the first and second wave (p < 0.001; IC -209.83-76.20) to Group 2. Group 3 received the second-highest number of tests from the MoH overall, with a reduction during the third wave to first-wave levels. The distribution of RT-PCR tests was not correlated with the case and death incidence.

Early response to COVID-19 in Brazil: The impact of a targeted approach to suspected cases and on epidemiological surveillance efforts.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) entered Brazil before travel restrictions and border closures were imposed. This study reports the characteristics of suspected and confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases among symptomatic international travelers in Brazil and their contacts. Methods: The REDCap platform developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health was analyzed to identify and investigate suspected cases of COVID-19 recorded during the period January 1 to March 20, 2020. The impact of Brazil's targeted approach to suspected cases from specific countries on epidemiological surveillance efforts during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed. Results: Based on molecular RT-PCR tests, there were 217 (4.2%) confirmed, 1030 (20.1%) unconfirmed, 722 (14.1%) suspected, and 3157 (61.6%) non-investigated cases among travelers returning from countries included on the alert list for surveillance, as defined by the Ministry of Health. Among the 3372 travelers who went to countries not included on the alert list, there were 66 (2.0%) confirmed, 845 (25.3%) unconfirmed, 521 (15.6%) suspected, and 1914 (57.2%) non-investigated cases. A comparison of the characteristics of confirmed cases returning from alert and non-alert countries did not reveal a statistically significant difference in symptoms. Almost half of the hospitalized travelers with known travel dates and hospitalization status (53.6%) were inbound from countries not included on the alert list, and RT-PCR tests were reported for only 30.5%. Conclusions: Policies adopted at entry points to contain the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil were not ideal. An analysis of the early response shows that surveillance of travelers, including testing strategies, data standards, and reporting systems, was insufficient.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of surveillance policies to control the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Surveillance efforts are essential to pandemic control, especially where the state is the primary health provider, such as Brazil. When public health testing guidelines limit molecular tests, there are reductions in detection efforts aimed at early recognition, isolation, and treatment of those infected with the virus. This study evaluates the effectiveness of surveillance policies to control the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo. METHODS: We conducted an interrupted time series analysis with a segmented regression model to analyze if changes in the state's guidelines improved RT-PCR testing outcomes in Brazil's most affluent and largest state, São Paulo. Anonymized daily data on the RT-PCR tests conducted in public laboratories belonging to the state-wide network from March 1, 2020 to June 5, 2021 were extracted from the Sao Paulo State open-source database, while the data on the genomic sequences were obtained from GISAID. We then aggregated these data for the 17 regional health departments in the state to evaluate regional-level outcomes. RESULTS: The public health system restricted RT-PCR testing to hospitalized cases in the first months. Testing was expanded to permit symptomatic testing of non-hospitalized persons only in July 2020, but a statistically significant increase in surveillance efforts was not observed. Case definition was expanded to allow case confirmation based on clinical, laboratory and image data criteria other than an RT-PCR test without increasing the testing effort for asymptomatic suspicious cases in September 2020. There was an increase in the mean volume of testing in each RHD, but the test positivity rate increased due to insufficient testing expansion. Results also show an uneven improvement in testing outcomes following these changes across the state's regional health departments. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that lower RT-PCR testing and genomic surveillance efforts are associated with areas characterized by a higher population concentration and a greater population reliance on the public health system. Our results highlight the need to structure health surveillance and information systems for disease control and prevention in emergency settings considering local demographics and vulnerabilities. In high prevalence settings, efforts at identifying and including vulnerable populations in routine and enhanced surveillance programs during COVID-19 must be significantly improved.

The effect of state-level social distancing policy stringency on mobility in the states of Brazil / O efeito da rigidez das políticas de distanciamento social na mobilidade nos estados brasileiros / El efecto de las políticas restrictivas de distanciamiento social en la movilidad a nivel estadual en Brasil

Abstract In Brazil, sub-national governments have played a particularly important role as the key actors implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions to halt the spread of COVID-19. Building on the methodology proposed by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), we coded the stringency levels of state-level school, commerce, services, industry, public gathering, and private event closure policies and describe these actions' duration at the state-level in Brazil from early February to mid-May 2020. Our results suggest significant heterogeneity across Brazil and across weeks in social distancing policy stringency during this period. We then apply dynamic times-series cross-sectional methods to evaluate the effect of anti-contagion policies on the population's mobility using cell phone location data. We find that anti-contagion policies had a significant effect on producing higher adherence to remaining at home even though social distancing policies were relatively moderate as compared to other countries. Our results also suggest that social distancing policies have a greater impact when a more complete and coherent set of policies were introduced and sustained by state governments.

Resumo No caso brasileiro, os governos subnacionais exerceram um papel particularmente importante na implementação de medidas não farmacológicas para contenção do alastramento do COVID-19. Baseando-se na metodologia do Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), codificamos a rigidez das políticas de fechamento de escolas, comércio e serviços, aglomerações públicas e eventos privados implementadas em nível estadual e descrevemos sua duração nos estados brasileiros entre meados de fevereiro e a metade de maio de 2020. Nossos resultados sugerem alta heterogeneidade ao longo do tempo e entre os estados na rigidez das políticas de distanciamento social durante o período analisado. Aplicamos em seguida métodos dinâmicos de séries temporais em painel com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito da rigidez das políticas sobre a mobilidade da população. Para isso, utilizamos dados de localização provenientes de celulares para mensurar mobilidade. Apesar da adesão relativamente moderada às medidas de distanciamento social pelos estados brasileiros, em comparação a estados em outros países durante o mesmo período, nossos achados sugerem que as políticas de distanciamento social tiveram efeito significativo na produção de níveis mais altos de adesão à permanência em casa pela população. Nossos resultados também sugerem que as políticas de distanciamento social têm maior impacto quando um conjunto mais completo e coerente de políticas é introduzido e sustentado pelos governos estaduais.

Resumen Los gobiernos implementaron una serie de políticas para combatir la pandemia de COVID-19. En el caso brasileño, los gobiernos subnacionales jugaron un papel particularmente importante como actores clave en la implementación de medidas no farmacológicas para contener la propagación del virus. A partir de la metodología del Rastreador de Respuestas Gubernamentales frente a la COVID-19 desarrollado por la Universidad de Oxford (OxCGRT), codificamos las distintas restricciones como el cierre de escuelas, comercios, servicios, industrias y la prohibición de aglomeraciones públicas y eventos privados, implementados en los estados brasileños y describimos su duración entre mediados de febrero y la primera quincena de mayo de 2020. Nuestros resultados sugieren una alta heterogeneidad respecto de la rigidez de las políticas de distanciamiento social, a través de los estados y a lo largo de las semanas de este período. Luego aplicamos la técnica de análisis de series temporales dinámicas del tipo panel para evaluar el efecto de las políticas para evitar contagios sobre la movilidad de la población, empleando datos de la ubicación de teléfonos celulares. Encontramos que a pesar de que las medidas de distanciamiento social implementadas por los estados brasileños fueron relativamente moderadas, en comparación con los estados de otros países durante el mismo período, nuestros hallazgos sugieren que las políticas para combatir los contagios tuvieron un efecto significativo en el logro de mayores niveles de adhesión a la permanencia en el hogar. Asimismo, nuestros resultados indican que las políticas de distanciamiento social tuvieron un mayor impacto cuando los gobiernos estatales introdujeron y mantuvieron un conjunto más amplio de medidas coherentes e integrales.

Governance in managing public health resources in Brazilian municipalities.

This study contributes to the health governance discussion by presenting a new data set that allows for comparisons of the management of health resources among Brazilian municipalities. Research on Brazil is particularly important as the provision of health services was decentralized in 1988 and since then municipalities have been given greater responsibilities for the management of fiscal resources for public health service provision. Based on detailed information on corruption practices (such as over-invoicing, illegal procurement and fake receipts) from audit reports of health programmes in 980 randomly selected Brazilian municipalities, this study deepens understanding of the relationship between health governance institutions and the incidence of corruption at the local level by exploring the extent to which horizontal and vertical accountabilities contribute to reducing the propensity of municipal government officials to divert public health resources for private gain. The results of our multiple regression analysis suggest that the experience of health municipal councils is correlated with reductions in the incidence of corruption in public health programmes. This impact is significant over time, with each additional year of health council experience reducing corruption incidence levels by 2.1% from baseline values. The findings reported in this study do not rely on the subjectivity of corruption measures which usually conflate the actual incidence of corruption with its perception by informants. Based on our results, we provide recommendations that can assist policy makers to reduce corruption.