Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on TB care

<bold>Background:</bold> In 2020, COVID-19 pandemic in Russia had 2 waves: from April to June (with lockdown) and from October to December (without lockdown). <bold>Objective:</bold> To evaluate impact of COVID-19 pandemic with and without lockdown on TB care. <bold>Materials:</bold> The coverage of active case finding (ACF) was evaluated monthly in the same periods of 2019 and 2020. The registration of new TB cases was evaluated in comparison with the expected value of this indicator calculated for each month by analyzing the five-year linear trends (R2>0.8 in all cases). The number of deaths due to tuberculosis was estimated graphically as a proportion of TB patients who died in each month compared to the same months of the previous five-year period. TB treatment outcomes were evaluated for patients with susceptible tuberculosis in the second and third quarters of 2020 compared to the second and third quarters of 2019. <bold>Results:</bold> ACF coverage decreased only during the first wave of COVID-19 (with lockdown). A decrease in the number of new cases was observed during both the first and second waves of COVID-19. No effect of the COVID-19 waves on TB mortality was found. The frequency of successful treatment decreased due to the lost to follow-up (LTFU) (p<0.001). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> The waves of COVID-19 lead to a reduced number of reported TB cases regardless of lockdown and ACF coverage, they did not affect TB mortality, but contributed to LTFU.