High SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and viral loads in community-dwelling individuals from rural indigenous and mestizo communities from the Andes during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador

Abstract

Background: Neglected indigenous groups and underserved rural populations in Latin America are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to poor health infrastructure and limited access to SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. The Andean region in Ecuador includes a large number of isolated rural mestizo and indigenous communities living under poverty conditions.

Objective: We herein present a retrospective analysis of the surveillance SARS-CoV-2 testing in community-dwelling populations from four provinces in the Ecuadorian Andes, carried out during the first weeks after the national lockdown was lifted in June 2020.

Results: A total number of 1,021 people were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR, resulting in an overall high infection rate of 26.2% (268/1,021, 95% CI: 23.6-29%), which was over 50% in several communities. Interestingly, community-dwelling super spreaders with viral loads over 10⁸ copies/mL represented 7.46% (20/268, 95% CI: 4.8-11.1%) of the SARS-CoV-2 infected population.

Conclusion: These results support that COVID-19 community transmission in rural communities from the Andean region was happening at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador and point out the weakness of the COVID-19 control program. Community-dwelling individuals in neglected rural and indigenous communities should be considered for a successful control and surveillance program in future pandemics in low- and middle-income countries.

Keywords: Andean region; COVID-19; Ecuador; SARS-CoV-2; indigenous people.