The laboratory in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in Uruguay

Results and challenges

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is demanding a high price from individuals, families, communities and societies around the world. Everyday lives have been transformed significantly, economies have entered a recession, and many of the traditional social, economic, and public health networks that people trust have come under unprecedented pressure.

In a short time, an outbreak the localized COVID-19 became a global pandemic with three defining characteristics:

a) Rapidity, the disease has spread rapidly in all corners of the world and its capacity for explosive propagation has overwhelmed health systems;

b) Severity, a significant percentage of cases are presented as severe or critical, with a gross case-fatality rate of clinical cases exceeding 3%;

c) Social and economic disturbance, disorders in health and social care systems, and measures taken to control transmission they have had great and profound socio-economic consequences.