Massive testing in the Galapagos Islands and low positivity rate to control SARS-CoV-2 spread during the first semester of the COVID-19 pandemic: a story of success for Ecuador and South America

Alexander Paolo Vallejo-Janeta; Diana Morales-Jadan; Alberto Velez; Patricio Vega-Marino; Byron Freire-Paspuel; Maria Belen Paredes-Espinosa; Angel S Rodriguez Pazmiño; Bernardo Castro-Rodriguez; Paulina Castillo; Carlos Masaquiza; Ismar Rivera-Olivero; Esteban Ortiz-Prado; Aquiles Rodrigo Henriquez-Trujillo; Barbara Coronel; Heberson Galvis; Tatiana Jaramillo; Tannya Lozada; Marylin Cruz; UDLA COVID-19 team; Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain

doi:10.22605/RRH7643

Original Research

Massive testing in the Galapagos Islands and low positivity rate to control SARS-CoV-2 spread during the first semester of the COVID-19 pandemic: a story of success for Ecuador and South America

AUTHORS

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^#Alexander Paolo Vallejo-Janeta¹ BSc, Laboratory Technician

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^#Diana Morales-Jadan² MSc, PhD Student

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^#Alberto Velez³ MSc, Laboratory Technician

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^#Patricio Vega-Marino⁴ MSc, Laboratory Technician

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^#Byron Freire-Paspuel⁵ MSc, Laboratory Technician

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Maria Belen Paredes-Espinosa⁶ BSc, Laboratory Technician

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Angel S Rodriguez Pazmiño⁷ MSc, Laboratory Technician

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Bernardo Castro-Rodriguez⁸ PhD Student

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Paulina Castillo⁹ BSc, Laboratory Technician

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Carlos Masaquiza¹⁰ BSc, Laboratory Technician

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Ismar Rivera-Olivero¹¹ PhD, Professor

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Esteban Ortiz-Prado¹² MD, PhD, Professor

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Aquiles Rodrigo Henriquez-Trujillo¹³ MD, Professor

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Barbara Coronel¹⁴ MD, Clinical Staff

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Heberson Galvis¹⁵ MD, Clinical Staff

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Tatiana Jaramillo¹⁶ MSc, Lecturer

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Tannya Lozada¹⁷ PhD, Dean of Research, UDLA

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Marylin Cruz¹⁸ Veterinary Medicine, Director of ABG Galapagos

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UDLA COVID-19 Team

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Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain²⁰ PhD, Professor *

^#Contributed equally

AFFILIATIONS

^{1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 20} One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

² One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador; and UDLA-COVID-19 Team, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

^{3, 4, 9, 10, 18} Agencia de Regulación y Control de la Bioseguridad y Cuarentena para Galápagos, Santa Cruz, Islas Galápagos, Ecuador

^{5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16} UDLA-COVID-19 Team, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

¹⁷ Dirección General de Investigación, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador

ACCEPTED: 5 May 2023

Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain: Massive testing in the Galapagos Islands to control SARS-CoV-2

early abstract:

Introduction: During the first months of COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America, several countries like Ecuador, Peru or Colombia experienced chaotic scenarios with public health systems collapsed and lack of testing capacity to control the spread of the virus. In main cities like Guayaquil in Ecuador, dramatic situations like body corpses in the streets where internationally broadcasted. However, while COVID-19 pandemic was devastating South America, SARS-CoV-2 transmission was successfully managed at Galapagos Islands due to the implementation of a massive screening strategy combining hospitalized and community dwelling population, and travel restrictions facilitated by its geographical location (972 km far from the Ecuadorian continental territory). For instance, Floreana Island was one of the few locations in the world that remained COVID-19 free during 2020.
Methods: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the data related to SARS-CoV-2 massive testing campaigns from April to September 2020 in the Galapagos Islands.
Results: Galapagos Islands had the lowest positivity rate in South America (ranging from 4.8 to 6.7%).
Discussion: The low positivity rate in Galapagos Islands was due to the fact that this territory had the highest testing ratio among Ecuadorian provinces (9.87% of the population, meaning 2,480 out of 25,124 inhabitants) during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion: This story of success was possible thanks to the inter institutional collaboration between the regional government of Galapagos Islands ("Consejo de Gobierno"), the local authorities ("Gobiernos Autonomos Descentralizados de Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabela"), the regional authorities from Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, the "Agencia de Regulación y Control de la Bioseguridad y Cuarentena para Galápagos" and "Universidad de Las Américas".