Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria transmission in the state of Pará, Brazil

Abstract Background Prior to the pandemic, malaria showed a global downward trend due to control and surveillance efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the disruption of progress in malaria control, leading to an increase in cases and deaths, particularly in Africa. In its bulletin, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the interruption of essential activities, such as active case finding and mass treatment for diseases like malaria, during the pandemic. This resulted in a setback for disease control efforts, with the recovery of these activities projected by 2030. In Brazil, there are no studies on the impact of the pandemic on malaria transmission. For this reason, the study aims to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the disease’s transmission. Methods This is an observational, descriptive, and analytical study with a quantitative approach, which analysed secondary data of reported malaria cases in the state of Pará, Brazil, between 2018 and 2023. Data were obtained from Sivep-Malária (Malaria Epidemiological Surveillance Information System) and the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 database. For statistical analysis, the study period was divided into three periods: pre-pandemic (2018–2019), critical period (2020–2021), and less critical period (2022–2023). Comparisons of sociodemographic and occupational variables, parasite species, and case mobility between periods were tested using the Chi-square test. Results A total of 170,245 malaria cases were reported: 79,125 before the pandemic, 44,830 in the critical period, and 47,502 in the less critical period. Cases among miners increased from 17.2% to 58%. Plasmodium falciparum cases rose from 2.6% to 11.3%. Imported cases from other states accounted for 3813 (2.2%) of the cases. The peaks of autochthonous malaria cases in Pará occurred from August to November between 2018 and 2023. Conclusions The seasonality of the disease was observed to be maintained at levels similar to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period. The reduction in the number of malaria cases during the critical period can be attributed to the control actions of the disease control programme in the state of Pará, while the increase was associated with the resumption of social interaction habits and greater internal mobility, facilitated by COVID-19 vaccination.