Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Trend of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Senegal

Abstract

Following the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic and the reporting of one case in Senegal, the number of regions with confirmed cases of infection increased considerably, with the disease now being reported throughout the country after 3 months of evolution. It is therefore necessary to assess the evolution of the disease in the country as the situation evolves in order to rapidly identify best practices for adoption. The objective of this paper is to make a preliminary spatial and temporal assessment and comparison of the results of the COVID-19 pandemic in the regions of Senegal. Data on the evolution of COVID-19 (confirmed cases of infection, deaths, recoveries), population, density and area of each region were analysed using a set of statistical tools. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has spread stubbornly in Senegal. In the space of 112 days (from March 2 to June 21), Senegal reached a number of 5888 infected cases for 3919 cured, 1885 active and 84 deaths for a total of 67855 tests performed. About 40 people out of 10,000 have been tested so far and 4 out of 10,000 have tested positive. The Mann-Kendall test indicates that the number of confirmed daily cases is slowly increasing, with the slope of Sen estimated at about 1.2 person/day across the country. In addition, the Pettitt test indicates a sharp change in the upward trend across the country on April 26, 2020. Among the main affected regions, Dakar, Thies and Touba are noted with an extremely high rate of increase. Principal component analysis and hierarchical ascending classification have made it possible to divide Senegal's 14 regions into 3 groups in terms of the number of confirmed cases, active cases, recovered cases and reported deaths, and the population, area and density of the region. The 1st group concerns the Dakar region, the 2nd Diourbel and Thies and the 3rd the other regions. Furthermore, statistics related to COVID-19 in the regions of Senegal are highly correlated with population size and density. This study revealed convincing spatial differences in the evolution of the pandemic between the regions of Senegal. The study recommends that the approaches adopted by regions that have achieved very low levels of COVID-19 be incorporated into health care management plans for the pandemic throughout the country, even as the situation evolves.