Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the diagnosis of new leprosy cases in Northeastern Brazil, 2020

Matos, Thais Silva; do Nascimento, Vanessa Almeida; do Carmo, Rodrigo Feliciano; Moreno de Oliveira Fernandes, Tânia Rita; de Souza, Carlos Dornels Freire; da Silva, Tarcísio Fulgêncio Alves

This study analyzed the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the detection of new cases of leprosy in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The periods January–September 2019 and January–September 2020 were compared. There was a 44.40% reduction in the diagnosis of leprosy when comparing the two periods (1,705 in 2019 and 948 in 2020). There was a reduction in the number of municipalities with reported cases: 251 municipalities in 2019 and 202 in 2020, expressing a reduction of 24.25%. Considering only the months following the arrival of the virus (April–September), the reduction was 51.10%. An inverse correlation was observed between the number of new cases of leprosy and the cumulative number of cases of COVID‐19 (Spearman's correlation coefficient = −0.840; P < 0.001) and the number of new monthly cases of COVID‐19 (Spearman's correlation coefficient = −0.817; P < 0.001). A slight increase was also observed in the proportion of multibacillary cases in the state (70.38% in 2019 and 72.69% in 2020) as well as in the proportion of individuals with the degree of physical disability not assessed at diagnosis, whose proportion rose from 16.39% in 2019 to 22.53% in 2020. The negative impact of COVID‐19 in tackling leprosy should be seen as a warning sign for health and political authorities.