Experience of international cooperation in developing epidemic control measures during COVID-19 spread in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The purpose of the study — to identify the factors contributing to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection within the territory of the Republic of Moldova and to develop measures aimed at their elimination.Materials and methods. In May 2020, experts of Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing), together with leading employees of institutions participating in planning and implementing measures aimed at prevention of COVID-19 spread, conducted a detailed analysis of epidemic control and curative measures in 10 healthcare organizations in the Republic of Moldova. They assessed the effectiveness of the undertaken actions in in-patient facilities, in laboratories, and in the country in general.Results. The existing approaches to treatment of patients with COVID-19 and to laboratory diagnostics were in line with the common practices; the adequacy of measures was evidenced by the hospital bed capacity and the stock of artificial lung ventilation machines. In the meantime, the experts came across the factors that obviously contributed to the infection spread. Their elimination could intercept some paths of infection and improve the situation.Conclusion. The analysis of the current measures and their results is important for planning and implementing actions aimed at improvement of the epidemic situation in different regions. The collaborative efforts helped slow down the outbreak in the Bender psychoneurological residential facility; outbreaks were prevented in other limited-access institutions; the incidence among healthcare workers decreased; the daily number of new COVID-19 cases decreased to 0–5 during the summer months in the Dniestrian Moldovan Republic. Presently, there is a clear picture of approaches that should be taken to decrease the incidence. Most likely, the experience obtained in the fight against the novel coronavirus infection will be of great use in future if any new variants of viruses emerge.

Keywords

• covid-19
• sars-cov-2
• novel coronavirus infection
• especially dangerous infection
• pandemic
• epidemic control measures
• epidemic