Epidemiological atlas of the dynamics of the spread of COVID-19 in Russia (03/02/2020-04/30/2020) by Ural State Medical University

The epidemic of a new coronavirus infection occurred suddenly for the whole world. On March 11, 2020, the WHO Director-General defined the situation with the spread of a new coronavirus infection as a pandemic. The virus spread very quickly and during the first year there were practically no countries left that were not involved in the epidemic process of COVID-19. It was of interest to us to assess the speed of development of the epidemic process, its direction from the moment the infection first entered the country to its spread in all regions and to do this in the most obvious way.

Geoinformation technologies (GIS) are actively used in epidemiology, which led to the choice of a methodology for creating cartograms for the subsequent study of the dynamics of the epidemic process. Based on spatio-temporal characteristics, we visualized the dynamics of the involvement of the administrative territories of the Russian Federation in the epidemic process of COVID-19. The information of the regional operational headquarters for combating a new coronavirus infection on the number of detected cases in the period from March 2 to April 30, 2020 was used as a database. In total, 5100 values were analyzed and, based on the data obtained, a cartogram (60 units) was built for each day. In the process of working on the project, diffusion cartograms were drawn for each date of the selected period.

As a result, we bring to your attention an electronic epidemiological atlas of the initial period of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic on the territory of the Russian Federation, implemented in the form of cartographic animation. The atlas is provided with the necessary explanations, including a key deciphering the anamorphic topography of the country's regions.

So, we can observe that the first cases of COVID-19 were detected on March 2, 2020 in the city of Moscow. During the month, there were pronounced fluctuations in the rate of relative growth in the absolute number of cases. As the epidemic expanded, the rate of increase in the incidence gradually decreased. Since April 3, this indicator has stabilized and did not exceed 20%. On April 17, 2020, the disease spread throughout the country. It is noteworthy that the spread of the disease in the territory of the Russian Federation was uneven. The main vector of the spread of the disease is from west to east. The Republic of Altai was the last to join the epidemic process. The epidemic process covered all 85 regions of the country in 47 days.